


Winter's Teeth

by PettyMindedSneak



Series: Stone Angels [3]
Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Captivity, F/M, M/M, Mental Illness, Redemption, Starvation, bi sexual everybody, bi sexual male character, mental health, vengeance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-22
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-10-08 22:42:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10397811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PettyMindedSneak/pseuds/PettyMindedSneak
Summary: Extending past the events of the Twilight Saga, the Evanov Coven is struggling. The Volturi have unleashed hell on Nathan, Aeva, and Viktor. The Cullens damned them and now they must help salvage the wreckage. The world is about to learn three very important lessons: Don’t ever separate mates. Don’t ever underestimate a newborn. Don’t ever touch Aeva’s son.





	1. Feral

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Viktor looks after the new Aeva

###  _Viktor_

            I had never seen my son like that. I had visited Volterra on my usual schedule and when I’d vanished, I simply hadn’t reappeared anywhere. I realized as soon as I was released from that black, empty limbo, that I had appeared directly in Alec’s fog. Aro had laid a trap for me and it had worked. I had no sense of how long I’d been held but, when my eyes were finally my own again, Nataniel was the first thing I saw, kneeling and covered in blood. His face was pure agony. It flashed to deepest spite as Felix moved. Felix was heading for a dirty female holding Alec’s throat in one hand and his head in the other. Obviously, Nataniel was loyal to the female over Felix, so I had my bearings in the fight as I ran forward.

            “Get her out of here!” Nataniel had screamed. I followed his command without thinking and snatched the female from Felix’s grasp. We were still in motion when we reappeared and I couldn’t help but tackle her to the ground. She was up and out of my hands before I could stand and she whirled around to glare at me as I vanished again. A pair of vivid red eyes met mine, glinting in the moonlight: this was a newborn. I had no time for newborns, my son needed me.

            I left and returned to Volterra for Nataniel, only to find him on his back, suffering under Jane’s torture. Demetri already had a hold of him, fingers digging into his right shoulder, and the others in the guard were closing in. I was right beside him and Nataniel shoved something small into my arms and kicked me in the stomach, knocking me away from the fray.

            “Go!” He screamed.

            I left as Aro just as removed Renata’s fingers from his robe. The short glimpse I had before I returned to the place I had left the newborn told me his plan: he would use Renata’s shield to keep me from Nataniel. It was an old trick and he had used it before. I cursed him and then looked down at my hands; only then did I realize what I was holding. Phoenix’s tiny, fragile body hung limp in my arms, his head tossed back to reveal the lethal bite in his neck, still leaking blood. I fell to my knees, horrified.

            “No…no, my darling boy...”

            He couldn’t look like that; it was unacceptable. I gathered him up, resting his head on my shoulder and gently folding his arms over his chest, cradling him against me. His blood was soaking into my jacket but it stirred no thirst inside me. He was dead and his blood was cold.

            “God no,” I whispered, clenching my eyes shut. “Oh, my darling boy. My gentle boy.” I set my mouth against his hair and opened my eyes. A gust of wind blew the newborn’s scent toward me from where she stood a few yards away, furiously reducing Alec to ribbons. It was Aeva and my mouth fell open in shock. What had happened while I was trapped in Alec’s fog? Clearly, he’d committed some transgression against my daughter. The sound her hands made as they raked through his body was both the tearing of flesh and the shrieking of metal.

            “Leave it, my darling,” I called. “You’ve killed him, now. He’s dead.”

            Aeva screamed, kicking what little was left of Alec’s body. She stomped on the pieces for a few moments, leaving small craters wherever her foot struck the earth. Her newborn strength was in good form. Finally, she stood still, surrounded by shredded and mangled body parts, her chest heaving.

            “Aeva,” I said softly. She tensed at the sound of my voice and turned around slowly, glaring. I was utterly floored. Her eyes were beautiful and terrible all at once. A crease appeared on her forehead; she no longer looked hostile, but she was confused.

            “Stay,” I commanded, gently lowering Phoenix’s body to the ground. “I’ll help you get rid of him, yes? Get rid of Alec?” She nodded slowly and dropped what appeared to be an entire wrist. I stood to approach and she backed away, sinking into a defensive crouch. She seemed to be having trouble remembering me, which was not shocking. These things happened after a transformation. I shifted into a nonthreatening body position and continued my approach; she allowed it, peering over my shoulder as I leaned down toward the mess.

            “Not too close,” I warned, kicking Alec’s remains into a pile. I picked up two sticks and scrubbed them together so fast they lit, dropping them down in the venom soaked grass. It lit faster than gasoline, the smoke billowing off the mess and hanging sickly sweet in the night air. I heard Aeva step closer to me as I watched the fire. She took my arm and we watched him burn together. I had never had any love for the witch twins and although Jane was stupid and cruel, her brother Alec had always been the greater danger of the two. I was glad to see him gone.

            Aeva held me loosely, her hand gripping just above my right elbow. As the flames died down I stepped out of her grasp, kicking the grass at our feet to make sure no part had been left unburned.

            “I am sorry,” I muttered to Aeva as she watched my progress. “I am sorry this has happened.” I didn’t know what else to say to her; I didn’t have words for her tragedy.

            She walked past me and crouched over the ashes. Something was glinting in the smolders and she pulled it out, dangling Aelc’s chain and crest over her head. She scrubbed the medallion between her palms, smoothing away the charred black coating so that it shined silver again. The ruby sparkled faintly as she slid it around her neck.; she was taking a trophy from her first kill. I left her to it and returned to Phoenix’s body.

            He was laying there, looking just as peaceful as he ever had while I stood above him. His skin was so pale though, as pale as his mother’s was now. There was no life behind his freckled cheeks, no breath in his little chest. He looked like I might be able to wake him. He used to love that; it had always been a happy surprise for him when I was there to wake him instead of his parents. He always sat up laughing to wrap his arms around my neck and greet me. He loved me. He _had_ loved me.

            Aeva’s hand took hold of my arm again and I reached back to embrace her. She seemed to have figured out who I was and she must surely be grieving too. She put her arms around my middle, and set her head against my chest. I heard her breathe in, smelling me. Her new senses would be very strong and she would spend most of her time investigating. My scent would be much stronger for her than she was used to. I had expected her to take a while to process it; I had expected that she might lean up to smell my neck or hair. I did not expect it when she suddenly gripped me tighter. Her fingers dug into my ribs, threatening to break them, and I shifted uncomfortably. She was watching me, but she didn’t look like Aeva.

            “Are you alright?”

            She took her hands away and backed up. I stepped forward, intending to follow, and her lip curled, a low growl coming from her chest.

            “Aeva?” I asked. “Vhat are you doing?” She stayed glaring at me, tensed to spring for a moment longer before she blinked and seemed to realize what she was doing. She stood up straight, putting a hand to her forehead.

            “Aeva?” I asked again.

            She looked up at me again and I could clearly see my daughter behind her red eyes. She staggered a moment and then her eyes rolled back.

            “Aeva!”

            I caught her as she fell. She was still just as tiny as she’d been as a human and it was nothing to gather her in my arms and carry her to her home. We were down near the water’s edge and it only took me a few moments to run up to the house Nataniel had made. I carried Aeva straight in and up to her bed room where I ripped the blankets off the bed, tossing them to the floor, and laid Aeva down on the bare sheet. Her eyes were moving beneath her lids and her breathing was shallow.

            “Vhat is this?” I asked to no one in particular. “Vhat is happening to you?”

            Her mouth was moving now, muttering, and her eyes were still going wild. I had never seen anything like what was happening to her. Vampires did not _faint_.

            I went to run a hand through my hair and was horrified to find that it was slick with Phoenix’s blood. My clothes were soaked in it from when I’d held him. I stared down at Aeva, knowing she was clearly in some circle of hell, and I began to cry. What would I tell her? If she asked me what happened, how could I possibly tell her that her son had died? How could I tell her where I’d had to leave _my_ son?

            My grief and panic were too much to bear; I couldn’t wear my grandson’s blood. I tore my shirt straight away from my chest, unable to bear the grief the smell brought on. I ripped all my clothes off and hurried into my son’s bathroom to shower, scrubbing my skin clean. Aeva was still muttering when I returned to the bedroom to redress. I had no clothes in this household, but Nataniel’s closet was well stocked. I took a pair of his trousers and a white button down, attempting some semblance of regaining my composure. When I turned back to Aeva, I registered just how ragged she was.

            She would need to be bathed, so I gathered her into my arms and carried her to the bathroom, filling the tub. As the water poured out of the faucet, I pulled off the torn remnants of her clothing and set her hard-won medallion aside. She had been bitten so many times I almost felt dizzy. I could smell the venom in her veins and I knew it well: the three brothers had done this to her. I could not imagine a scenario in which they had not delighted in causing her pain, and so I kissed her temple in apology.

            “My darling girl,” I whispered, easing her limp body into the tub. “I’m so sorry.” I had always known she would be turned eventually, but I had assumed it would be a result of Nataniel’s own bite. His bite would have been clean and potent. The process would have been as painless as he was able to make it. Instead, she had been tortured. Venom from multiple vampires slowed the change; she did not deserve to have her agony elongated.

            I took a wash rag and wiped gently at her skin, clearing away the blood and grime. Once her face and hair were clean, I turned my attention to her chest and arms. It was then that I made a horrifying discovery: Aeva’s arm still bore the scar from where she had burned herself in the factory as a human. Vampires did not keep scars through the change, not shallow ones like that. My head was reeling as the truth settled over me.

            She hadn’t completed her change.

            Aeva had stood up and killed Alec _in the middle of the process_. I couldn’t fathom what that had felt like; every movement one made during the change made the pain worse. She had attacked a much older, much stronger vampire and won and now…she was soaking in a tub, still changing species. I supposed if anything were to make a vampire faint, it would be a savage murder completed mid-transformation.

            “I am so sorry,” I whispered again, kissing her forehead as I pulled her from the tub. “Oh, my darling Aeva…I am _so_ sorry.” I rubbed her skin with a soft towel, mopping gently at her dripping hair. Once she was dry, I carried her back to the bed and realized that this was the last time she would ever sleep.

            My son had spent years lying beside her at night while she slept. Every night for nearly _seven years_ , he had waited for her to wake. This would be the last time she would wake up and I would be there for it, not Nataniel. I would remember it and describe it to him. I made that vow silently as I busied myself.

            I went to the closet, pulled out one of her soft, summer dresses and eased it over her head. I wanted her to be as comfortable as I could manage, so I arranged the pillows under her head just so. Finally, I pulled the comforter from the floor, shook it out, and threw it over her. If she was finishing her change, there was nothing left to do but wait. I couldn’t stand to just hover over her while she suffered, and so I ran back into the forest to find Phoenix again. Luckily, no animals had disturbed him. That was not surprising, though. Animals wouldn’t wander anywhere near a place where vampires dwelled.

            I lifted him and held him just like I’d done when he was a baby. Gods, I’d held this child as a _baby_. I’d helped raise him. I’d watched him grow. Human lives were incredibly short, but this was a tragedy. He should have had more time. His dark, messy hair shifted in the wind and I started to cry again.

            My tiny, darling grandson. I had missed his birthday.

            What was I meant to do with him now? Should he be buried? You didn’t need to burn human’s bodies, but where would he go? I didn’t have a casket and I would not simply plant him in the dirt like a hidden kill. I walked with him back to the house, plodding slowly up the stairs from the water’s edge to the deck. I looked up when I was directly before the statue of Aeva’s late father, Jaime. He and I had only had a brief interaction and he’d made me a better man. He was the human that I’d shared a title with for the sake of the boy in my arms. We’d been Phoenix’s grandfathers. He’d been Abuelo; I’d been Papa. Phoenix used to call me Papa Viktor.

            I was beginning to understand why Aro had such a strong dislike for powerful emotions; this grief was painful. I knelt and laid Phoenix’s body in the snow at Jaime’s feet.

            “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “There vas nothing…I could not…I-I’m sorry.”

            I wasn’t certain if I was speaking to Phoenix, Jaime, or God. It didn’t matter; my apologies fell on deaf ears. I knelt before Jaime, my eyes on Phoenix’s face, as the sun rose and set around me. The air was cold and it kept Phoenix from decaying; he looked like a doll. I expected him to move at any moment, but he never would. I waited through the night, wallowing in my own heartache. I was useless to my whole family: Phoenix was gone, Nathan was taken, and Aeva was burning to death. I could do nothing for any of them. I felt too empty to cry.

            After an hour or two more, Aeva had gone still again and her muttering had stopped. Her transformation was ending and I had to check on her. I kissed Phoenix’s pale forehead and went to tend to his mother; Jaime could watch over him. I prayed that if heaven were real, the pair of them were together.

            My chest was aching as I made my way into Aeva’s bedroom. She had kicked the blanket off of herself and laid sprawled on the bed. She’d been too hot. I smiled at that, and felt a jolt of pain in my heart knowing she would not feel that again. I knelt at the bedside, grasping her hand in mine to let her know someone was with her. She was just barely warm and cooling rapidly. I watched as her moles and marks began to vanish. I could see the outline of her scar fading away. Her palm was smoothing in my hand as I held it. I was losing little parts of her, right before my eyes. I held her tighter and began to rock back and forth, willing myself not to cry again.

            This should not have happened; not this way.

            I had no qualms with Aeva being a vampire; in fact, I had wanted this from the beginning. That wasn’t true. At the _beginning_ I had wanted her dead, but after that I had wanted to see her changed. I had only imagined a scenario where Nataniel was the one to change her. I thought maybe, if he felt he’d have been unable to do it, he might have asked me. Phoenix was always alive and well in those scenarios in my head, just tucked away with his human family. I had never pictured this; this reality was too gruesome to have been guessed at.

            What’s done was done, though. Phoenix’s body rested in the snow outside and Aeva was in her bed, entering her new life. I pulled her hand to my lips and kissed her knuckles. My lips gave way to her skin; she was made of the same stuff as me now. She rolled over, gripping both my hands with a grimace on her face and her lip pulled back from her teeth. Her eyes were still shut and I knew exactly what point she was at. Her heart was changing now; the pain in her chest would burn hotter and brighter than an inferno. She would think she was dying. In a way, she would be.

            I petted the backs of her hands, trying to soothe her. It wouldn’t make any difference, but it was more than nothing. After a moment, I flipped her hands over, inspecting her palms. Her hands had always been rough and marked, but now they were perfectly smooth. They had new scars, though. Across the fingers of each hand were two matching crescents; shadowed reminders of the last bite Alec gave and the price he had paid for it. I felt certain that Alec had been the one to kill Phoenix; Aeva had decimated him so thoroughly, there was no way he wasn’t her intended target.

            “Alec killed Phoenix,” I said quietly. “You…returned the favor. Vell done.” She didn’t respond, but I didn’t expect her to. I gathered her hands in mine again and bowed my head, resting my brow on my thumbs. I was not equipped to take care of a newborn, especially not one like Aeva was going to be. A newborn’s demeanor in their first year was heavily dictated by the emotions they felt when their transformation began. Aeva surely must have been terrified, but I didn’t know how her attack on Alec would affect her. Her heart was still beating steadily, so I knew I had a few more hours to make some sort of arrangement. I kissed her forehead, stood, and jumped to a farm in North Dakota.

            The normally barren landscape was even more dreary, covered in a sheet of snow that had melted and refrozen several times, leaving it jagged and grey. I followed the fence line toward the small, two story house. It was the only structure for miles, but I didn’t dare get too close. I made sure to intentionally crush my feet through the craggy layer of ice on top of the snow, crunching loudly and I walked. I wasn’t sneaking and wanted that to be known. As I neared, the front door opened and a tall, lean man with white blond hair stepped out onto the porch. I stopped walking and stared at him, aching because of the resemblance he bore to my son.

            “Viktor,” he called, nodding.

            “Hello, Peter,” I replied. “Are you vell?”

            “I am,” he said, a slight twang to his voice. Peter was originally from Texas and the accent had never truly left him. “How’s Nate?”

            I didn’t reply right away and Peter misunderstood my silence, bowing his head and nodding at his boots.

            “It was hard to do that to ‘im,” he said. “But you were right; it wasn’t safe for him to be with a human like that. It had to be done.”

            “I lied to you.”

            Peter froze, hands in his pockets, head down, and boot mid scuff on his porch. Suddenly, the air was tense.

            “You lied to me?” He asked, slowly raising his head to look at me. His long hair was pulled back, but a few strands blew around his face as he stared at me, still as stone.

            “I didn’t kill them, the humans,” I confessed. “Ve…ve vere trying to fool Aro. Ve used you to…to help.”

            “You _used_ me?”

            This was not going well. I wished Nataniel was with me; he was so much better at things like this than I was. “Ve just needed Nataniel to believe his humans were dead,” I explained. “Aro knows you believed vhat I told you; that you acted in accordance vith our laws.”

            “Thank you kindly for covering my ass,” Peter said. It might have been a joke if he’d used a different tone of voice. As it was, it didn’t sound friendly. “What are you doing on my property?”

            “I need your help.”

            This finally made Peter laugh. He sounded incredulous. “You just told me last time I helped you, you lied to me. Why the hell would I help you again? Why would I trust you?”

            “I…I don’t know.” I scrubbed at my brow with my hand, frustrated with myself, and suddenly Peter was directly in front of me. He’d run to me, but he hadn’t touched me, so I wasn’t concerned. Based on the crease between his eyebrows, Peter clearly was.

            “What did yall do?” He asked, staring straight into my eyes. “What the hell kind of mess have you gotten yourself into?” He wasn’t angry anymore; he was worried. I was generally known as austere; I knew he’d never seen me show emotion like this before.

            “I told you,” I sighed. “Ve lied to Aro.”

            “And he found out.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. He, like me, knew that our punishment had been an inevitability. “What happened?” He asked.

            “I don’t know; Alec held me. Vhen he let me go, Nataniel’s son had been killed, he vas being taken captive, and his mate vas changed.”

            “Jesus.”

            “I can’t get to Nataniel; he’s being guarded by Renata.”

            “So what do you need me for? The newborn?”

            “Yes,” I nodded. “She’s not finished vith her change yet, but…she voke up.”

            “She woke up,” he nodded, folding his arms. Peter used to train newborns to fight in the Southern Vampire Wars; he’d worked alongside Jasper Cullen. I was not surprised that he’d seen this before. “What did she do when she woke up? Who’d she attack?”

            “Alec.”

            “Damn,” he said, scuffing his foot in the snow. “Did he just put her down, or did he maim her?”

            “She killed him.”

            Peter froze again. “Your…your newborn,” he said, clearly processing. “…killed Alec? And she wasn’t done cookin’ yet?”

            “Yes.”

            “I’m gonna be straight with you, Viktor,” he sighed, lifting his head to look at me again. “She is going to wake up like a fuckin’ demon.”

            “Vill you help me?”

            “Well, I’m not about to let you get murdered,” he sighed, turning and walking back toward his house. “Just let me tell Char. I’ll be back in a minute.”

            He left to go and speak to his mate Charlotte; I quite liked Charlotte and while she wasn’t terribly well practiced in managing newborn vampires, she understood what Peter had lived through. She was never nervous when he went out do to this sort of thing; she was always confident he’d come back. I was not looking forward to her taking it out on me if Aeva killed him. Perhaps Aeva would just kill her too and take care of all of it.

            Peter came jogging back to me a few moments later, now sporting a brown leather jacket and Charlotte’s scent. He was pulling his hair back, catching all the loose pieces and tying it tightly into a small bun at the base of his neck. “It hurts like hell when they pull your hair,” he said, giving me a half-grin. “Let’s go.” I took his wrist and transported him back to Nataniel’s house. We were on the deck and he peered up at the house, giving a low whistle.

            “This is a nice place,” he said, turning to look out over the lake. “Where the hell are we?”

            “Pennsylvania.”

            “Well I’ll be damned. How’s the weather out here?”

            “Often clear and cloudless, but the lake generates fog cover early in the morning.”

            “Well that explains why the house is so nice,” he nodded, turning back. “Nate’s gotta stay inside, huh?”

            “He is often indoors, yes,” I replied, leading him inside. “The trees shade the house vell and his son vas blind, so it vasn’t an issue for them here.” He stepped inside behind me and closed the door. We were both still, listening to Aeva up above us.

            “She’s got a few hours left on her,” he murmured, reaching forward to set his hand on my shoulder. “You can go on up. Just tell me when she wakes up.”

            I nodded and appeared back at Aeva’s bedside. She was still on her side, curled even tighter as the pain of her transformation reached its apex. I felt better knowing that Peter would help me with her. I wasn’t able to take care of her when she was bitten, but I would do my best to care for her once her change was complete. I resumed my place beside her, her hands in mine, and waited in silence for three final hours; I was straining to hear the last beats of her heart. They were slow and faint until, ultimately, they stopped. I took a deep breath and got off the floor, walking away from the bed. It didn’t serve a purpose anymore; there were no humans left in the house to sleep in it.

            The sun was coming up so I went to the window to watch it, waiting for Aeva to finally wake. After a moment or two, there was a rustle of the sheets as she stood up. I looked over my shoulder and there she was in all her splendor. Her thick, dark hair shone like glass, now stuck permanently at its chest length; her full, soft lips sat in a perfect pout. Her skin was pale and flawless. There were no more marks on it, no more signs of the life she’d lived; she was a newborn in a very real sense.

            I’d never seen anything so beautiful and I missed her terribly. I missed her warm, dark skin. I missed her sweet, black doe’s eyes. They were now a vivid red, but at least they were still the right shape. I sighed and offered my hand to her, knowing that her skin wouldn’t smolder against mine anymore. Only very recently had it become commonplace for Aeva to touch me; I scolded myself for waiting so long to warm to her. She’d been such a wonderful human. I hoped her vampire self would be just as she had been, but that is not the way things seemed to be going. Yet again, I was unprepared for her reaction to me: She crouched and snarled when I moved. I whipped around fully, not wanting my back to a feral newborn.

            “Aeva,” I said gently. “Aeva, it’s me.”

            She growled, sinking onto all fours.

            “Peter, qvickly!”

            She lunged and I barely had time to scramble out of the way. She was _fast_. She lunged again, grabbing hold of my ankle as I tried to escape. I kicked her shoulder as hard as I could and it was enough to knock her back, releasing her hold on me. I sprinted for the door and collided with Peter as he barreled into the room. He’d rolled up his sleeves and Aeva caught sight of the silver bite marks that littered his arms and immediately attacked. Peter fought her off brilliantly, but knocked her too close to me. She snarled and latched her hands around my throat.

            “Aeva,” I rasped, clawing at her fingers. “Aeva, _please_.” I tried to vanish but something was stopping me. I felt my stomach drop like it always did, but it was as though I was simply disappearing and reappearing in the same spot. I couldn’t get out of Aeva’s grip. Peter got behind her and attempted to pry her arms away from me, but it was futile. She was too strong to be moved. I clawed at the floor, searching for anything I could strike her with; newborns were strong, but also easily distracted. I grabbed hold of a piece of fabric just as her fingers began to break skin and I threw it at her face, hoping to break her concentration. She screamed like I’d burned her and released me immediately, latching on to the fabric instead. Peter staggered away and I scrambled backward against the wall.

            I had thrown my blood stained shirt at her and she was clutching it to her face and screaming. She fell to her knees and hugged the shirt to her chest, breathing deeply. She wasn’t screaming in anger, it was pain. She had recognized Phoenix’s scent.

            I sat there on the floor, staring at her in disbelief. She had almost killed me. There had been no trace of my daughter left in her a moment ago. And yet there she was, crying on the ground because she’d found her son’s scent.

            “Aeva,” I whispered. She looked up and she knew me. I _knew_ she knew me. I moved toward her, but suddenly Peter was up and yanking my arms; he hauled me to my feet and dragged me out of the room. She was still staring after us when he slammed the door shut.

            “I told you to tell me when she woke up!” He snapped, shoving me away. I was slightly in shock after what had just happened; not the attack, but what had stopped it. Phoenix had jogged her memory in the absolute worst way.

            “I…I am sorry,” I said, shaking my head to clear it. “She vas calm vhen she first stood up. I thought it vould be alright.”

            “Yeah, well from now on, you don’t think if I don’t tell you to,” he huffed. “I told you, I’m not about to let you get murdered. Why didn’t you place jump, or whatever it is you do?”

            “I couldn’t. I don’t know vhat happened, but I couldn’t leave.”

            “Well then make sure you stay out of her reach.”

            “And vhat if she grabs you?”

            “I’m not tryin’ to let her grab me neither,” he laughed, putting his hand back on the door. “But if she does, please get her off.”

            “Are you about to let her out?”

            “Well we can’t just keep her in there. She’ll break a window eventually and she needs to eat. You want to feed her humans or animals, like Nate?”

            “I…I don’t have a preference, but I think she and Nataniel vould prefer that she hunt animals.”

            He growled in irritation and rolled his eyes, but said, “Alright, fine. It just takes more work to get a newborn to want to eat that way. They’ll hunt humans all on their own. But, hell, let’s do it. You ready?”

            “No,” I laughed. “Vhat is going to happen?”

            “She’s going to come tearing out of here as fast as she can. I opened up the doors downstairs; she’ll go straight out one of those. Once she’s out, she’s going to keep runnin’ and I’m going to loop around and steer her back here. We’re gonna keep doing that until she gets bored and settles a bit. Then we’ll feed her.”

            “And I should do…vhat?”

            “Get out of the way.”

            He didn’t give me enough time to move before he threw the bedroom door open again. As soon as she saw the movement of the door, Aeva threw down the shirt she’d been smelling and bolted out just like Peter had said she would. She dodged around me and rocketed down the stairs, going straight out the back door and leaping over the railing on the deck. Peter was on her heels and I was just behind him.

            Aeva was spectacular; she was so quick and agile that I didn’t know how Peter ever hoped to catch her. She had a natural instinct to serpentine, trying to shake him off her trail. Most newborns will run in a perfectly straight line, but she veered around to try to catch us off guard. Experience mattered, though, of course and eventually she made a mistake. Peter was able to cut her off and he threw his arms out wide, trying to look larger. This usually startled newborns and would make them change directions; although newborn vampires were incredibly strong, they tended to still think of themselves as humans until they became accustomed to their bodies. They functioned primarily in a state of anxiety and fear, fueled mainly by their new urge to seek blood.

            The way Peter moved should have made Aeva change direction. Instead, she set her chest lower and rammed her shoulder into his stomach, catching him around his middle and tackling him to the ground. He grunted as they slammed into the dirt, leaving a crater behind them, and scrambled out of her grip. She lunged at him again and he just barely dodged her.

            “Jesus, girl!” He shouted, ducking as she swung at his head. “Settle down!”

            She growled in response and lunged again. He knocked her left shoulder to get her off balance and skipped out of her way. He started running and she chased him; it was all I could do to keep up with them. Peter was much more evasive than Aeva was, but Aeva was determined to catch him.

            “Peter!” I called. “Vhat is happening?”

            “Hell if I know,” he grunted, dodging a kick. “She’s ornery as all get out, though. Hang on.” She swung at him and he grabbed her wrist, spinning her around. She lost her footing as she spun and staggered to her knees. As smoothly as though he were dancing, Peter caught both her arms behind her at the elbow with his right hand and crossed her ankles on the ground, pinning them under his boot. His left hand caught Aeva’s forehead and he cranked her head back against his left shoulder, setting his teeth at her throat. He’d immobilized her and, if she were behaving as a newborn should, she ought to have frozen solid. Any movement from her could have caused Peter’s teeth to cut into her neck. She should have been scared to move or struggle, but she was thrashing around in his grip.

            “I will bite you!” He snarled, shaking her hard. I felt a pang in my chest, totally unsure of what to do. On the one hand, I was watching Peter—a man skilled in handling newborns—helping Aeva get control of herself. On the other, I was watching him manhandle a member of my coven and I had a burning urge to fight him off. Aeva tried to snap at Peter’s face and he grabbed a fistful of her hair, forcing her face into the dirt and driving his knee into the middle of her back. I snarled involuntarily and he glared at me.

            “You want me to let her go?” He snapped. I got a hold of my emotions and took a small step back. He turned his focus back to immobilizing my daughter, hauling her elbows higher until her shoulders were on the verge of dislocating. “Quit it!” He told her. “Aeva, you cut this out now.”

            She struggled for a few moments longer, but was quickly learning that she couldn’t get out of his grip. She went rigid and so did Peter. “No, Aeva,” he said, giving her a warning tone. “You have to relax. If you stay tense like this, I’m going to pull your arms off.”

            After two agonizing minutes, Aeva’s muscles began to relax, the tension in her legs disappearing as she slowed her frantic, panting breath. As she relaxed, so did Peter, until he moved to let her up. As soon as he took his knee off of her, she snapped back into motion. Her legs curled under her body and she forced herself to her feet, knocking Peter off balance so he broke his grip. She swung immediately, striking him in the jaw with a closed fist. There was a sickening snap as she made contact and she followed it with a powerful kick to his stomach before she turned to run away. Peter caught her wrist and jerked it up between her shoulder blades. Aeva’s free hand went back and caught Peter’s hip, her nails digging in and immediately breaking his skin. He growled and gave an almighty pull, dislocating her shoulder and kicking the back of her knee so she fell down once more. She slipped out of his grip before he landed on her. They scuffled for a moment before Aeva landed another blow, cracking a few of Peter’s ribs.

            “Viktor!” He grunted, kicking her back. She seemed intent on attacking him and I didn’t know that he was going to get away. I moved forward to haul her off, but he shouted, “No! Don’t touch her!”

            “Then vhat?”

            “Go get the Major! I need him to knock her ass out.”

            He wanted Jasper Cullen. Jasper was the only person that was more skilled at training newborns, but he was also much more abrasive in his methods. I was reluctant to bring him in, but I was certain Peter was about to be decapitated if I didn’t.

            “I’ll go,” I replied, backing a bit further away.

            “Hurry up, she’s kickin' the shit outta me!”

            I vanished and reappeared directly in the center of the Cullen’s living room. Jasper was right beside me and I took a deep breath. He would not be happy about this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're interested, here is my writing process: Long span of nothingness; a sudden surge of vivid, very detailed ideas that flow beautifully to make a plot; forgetting key aspects of that plot; long span of nothing; suddenly remembering an idea and FINALLY writing it down; hastily written summaries that are my thoughts verbatim; turn summary into writing. 
> 
> Here is the summary for this chapter: 
> 
> Has Aeva and Phee. Aeva shreds tf out of Alec and he lights the body on fire. He turns to Aeva and sticks his hand out for her. She lets him hug her but then she starts squeezing too hard. He looks down and she has a full on FURY FACE and he’s like “OH FUCK!” He breaks out of her grip, but she cracked a few ribs. She’s like, “wha--?” and faints. Viktor’s like, um, FUUUUUCK.  
> Takes her to the house and sets her up in the bed. Realizes she’s not done changing. Cleans her up, lays her down, and is like, well…she can’t be unattended, so I can’t do anything with Phoenix rn. When she’s done she is like…AGGRESSIVE.  
> He’s like, OH FUCK and gets Peter. Peter’s also like, HOLY SHIT and GET JASPER, FUCK.


	2. Mirrored

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A member of the Cullen Coven takes his first try at handling Aeva.

__

### Jasper

__

      “Uncle Jasper, _listen_ ,” Renesmee demanded. She refused to believe I was paying attention at all if I was not looking directly at her the entire time. I had only glanced away for a moment to greet Alice when she’d walked into the room. This had been too long for the little red headed girl at the piano, however, and I had been scolded for it.

       “I’m sorry, darlin’,” I laughed, shifting my entire body where I sat on the couch so I faced her. “Continue.”

      Renesmee turned back to the piano, happy with my adjustment, and resumed her playing. Edward had been teaching her a few songs and she was performing her favorite one; it was something by Vivaldi and she didn’t need the sheet music to play it anymore. She was actually quite good, but she played almost nonstop. She preferred to have me listen because she could feel when I was proud of her. I caught Alice smiling at me out of the corner of my eyes when, suddenly, my view of her was obstructed by another vampire.

      She shrieked, “Jasper, _move_!” I knew better than to wait to follow her orders and dove straight for the floor, ducking just under his hand and rolling to my feet as he snatched at me. Renesmee had stopped playing and was just turning around when Alice shoved me hard, knocking me to my left as the vampire reappeared right where I’d been standing. It was Viktor Evanov and he was vanishing and reappearing, hunting me. I couldn’t track him, so Alice was all I had.

      The three of us were lightning quick and Alice kept me just out of Viktor’s grasp while I could hear my family moving around, hurrying to tend to Renesmee as she’d started screaming.

       “What’s he want, Al?” I demanded.

       “I don’t know, just move!” She snapped, yanking my arm hard as he tried again. This time, he didn’t vanish. Instead, he shot out one of his long legs and kicked Alice in the stomach, knocking her backward over the sofa and grabbing a fistful of my hair.

       “Uncle Jas—!“

      I didn’t get to hear the end of my niece’s scream before I was standing in an unfamiliar forest. Viktor let go of me as soon as we appeared there and leapt back, putting a good distance between us. I sent out my sensory web to get a read on him and got just a glimpse of his emotions before his face dropped into a scowl and I got blocked. There was a flicker of anger on the end of what I’d gotten, but that was just because he’d felt me probing. Before that, he’d been anxious and impatient. He had a wall up now, though, and I didn’t trust a man I couldn’t read. It didn’t mean I couldn’t affect him, though.

       “You kicked my mate,” I growled.

       “I had to,” he replied. “She vas irritating and I need you more than she does right now.” His accent, like mine, hadn’t gone away over time.

       “Take me back.”

       “No.”

      It would be a fight then. I settled into a low crouch, my arms slightly out to the left and right. Viktor’s eyes narrowed as he took in my stance and I knew he understood that if I leapt at him, it was my intention to lock his arms to his sides. He bent his elbows and pulled them back slightly; if I tried to grab him, he’d swing his arms back so I got his middle, but his hands would be free to strike. I had forgotten how old he was and how different his life had been from Carlisle’s. My coven leader’s eyes might have widened in fear or panic if he’d seen me pose like this, but Viktor was older and bolder than Carlisle. It made sense that he was a fighter and could spot someone’s intentions. It also wouldn’t matter much if I _could_ catch hold of him if he vanished on me. It would be an interesting scrap, for sure.

      I curled my fingers into fists and I saw Viktor’s eyes flicker to the movement and then I made a rookie mistake: I took my eyes off the Russian as I saw my old brother-in-arms Peter come crashing through the trees behind him. I felt his exhilaration and frustration, and the flash of relief when he saw me. Viktor, much to my surprise, did not take advantage of my lapse in attention. I had assumed this was an attack until that moment. Peter, meanwhile, was cradling his left arm to his stomach. There appeared to be an extra bend in the thing between the wrist and the elbow.

       “Get up,” he barked, hurrying toward me. “Get up outta that crouch and help me set this.”

       “Peter, what in the _hell_ is going on?”

       “Vik ain’t nothin’ to worry about,” the blonde man huffed, offering me his injured arm. I gripped one side of the break in each hand and yanked them apart before smashing the bones back together. Peter snarled, but didn’t jerk away from me. He needed me to hold it in place for him while it healed.

       “What did this to you?”

       “Viktor here’s got himself a newborn,” Peter replied, chuckling darkly. “She’s a real spitfire too. She’s been givin’ me a hell of a time, so I told him to go and fetch me some reinforcements.”

       “It’s just one newborn?” I snorted. “And you can’t take care of her? Getting’ rusty, Pete?”

       “Gettin’ my ass kicked, actually. My arm’s set now, let it down.”

       “It ain’t healed. She gets a hold of that and she’ll snap it in half all over again.”

       “Well then don’t let her get so close to me, hey Major?”

       “Don’t be an idiot and get caught twice.” I turned away from my grinning friend and faced Viktor, now out of my defensive stance. Peter and I shook each other out of our stoicism, but I wasn’t willing to be playful with Viktor. “What’re you doing with a newborn? Is it a feeding gone wrong?”

       “No,” he replied. “It is—“

       “Tell him later,” Peter shushed, cutting him off. “We don’t have time for that. She snapped my arm and ran like hell. Come on, we gotta go catch her.”

       “Well, damn,” I laughed. “We’re in a rush. Alright.” Peter swore up and down that he didn’t have a gift, but I had always believed he was just a little more persuasive than he had any right to be. He’d always been able to convince the newborns we’d trained to do just about anything he wanted. I should have been much more concerned about Viktor, but with just one sentence, I was ready to do what Pete said. He never abused his gift, but he certainly could have if he chose to. I guess it was best that he swore he didn’t have one.

       “Let’s go, major,” he said turning away.

       “Wait, Pete, what’s her name?”

       “It’s Aeva, but she won’t respond to it.”

      That was odd. Even when newborns didn’t remember their past, calling their name usually got them to pause. They were always terrified and hearing something familiar like that would make them turn to look at you long enough to knock them down. These two might have over used it since she woke up, though. If you said it too many times, the newborn would start to ignore it. Peter usually knew better than to do that, though. Maybe Viktor had done it then; his wall had faltered when he’d heard it and I got a wave of grief. I wasn’t sure what that meant just yet.

      Peter took off back into the trees and Viktor and I followed. I tested the area around us, registering that Peter was feeling much more confident since I had arrived and I sent him a dose of reassurance and let him taste my curiosity. Viktor, behind me, had reinforced his wall and I wasn’t getting much from him. I wondered if his wall would falter again when we found Aeva, knowing that just mentioning her had cracked it.

      Peter was tilting his nose left and right as we ran and I knew he was tracking the newborn. I breathed in and caught her scent as well—citrus, spice, and chocolate—and then threw my sensory web as wide as it would go. It was redundant for me to track the exact same way Peter was, especially if we were right next to each other; he had her trail and I wouldn’t get it any clearer than he could. I followed him while he sniffed after her and tried to see if I could get a mark on her emotional signature. Because she was a newborn, I was looking for a pocket of fear, anxiety, or hunger. Instead, far to the right, I felt a flash of scalding hot anger.

       “Go right,” I said, veering. Peter could smell that her trail continued forward, but he immediately turned to follow me. I didn’t make sense that she would have looped back but, even though he couldn’t smell her, he trusted that I was right. Viktor followed as well. He didn’t know me as well as he knew Peter, but I could feel a whisper of loyalty to my friend. He trusted Peter, Peter trusted me, and so Viktor would listen. I checked my web again and got a better read on that bright, hot anger. What had these two done to piss her off?

       “Viktor, jump two miles ahead,” I called. “She’s right in front of us, send her this way.” He took one more step and was gone. I grabbed Peter’s arm and yanked him to a halt, shutting my eyes to focus on what was happening far ahead of us. The blank spot of Viktor’s wall showed up and, just as I knew it would, it shuddered when he saw Aeva. I was frustrated that I wasn’t closer when it happened, because all I got from him was guilt: he felt partially responsible for Aeva’s current condition. I hadn’t expected him to be so sentimental and I certainly didn’t expect his emotions to switch to sudden, stinging fear.

       “Aeva, no. Aeva _stop_!” We heard him growl, clearly in distress.

       “Shit, she got him.” Peter took off forward and I kept on his heels.

       “Why doesn’t he just vanish away?”

       “He can’t when she’s got him,” Pete called over his shoulder. “She’s doin’ something funny.”

       “Shit,” I agreed.

      We found them in just a few short seconds. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’d expected her to be bigger. Aeva, as it turned out, was just an itty-bitty thing. She wasn’t much taller than Alice, but she was built a bit studier, and that meant she’d be quick since she had more muscle to her legs. She was beautiful and I could see why Viktor changed her if that’s what had happened. She was also exceptionally aggressive and was crushing both of Viktor’s forearms in her hands when we got to them, which made me think if he _had_ changed her, he might be regretting it just then.

      Without me having to say anything, Peter rushed her, reaching from behind to grab her chin and hauling her head around, which meant that I had to force her wrists to bend to break her grip on Viktor. Peter tossed her on the ground behind himself and I shoved Viktor back, making room for us. I found myself wishing we were in a clearing or the fields we used to do this in back in the old days; the trees were obstacles that we couldn’t afford to have. As soon as I’d touched her, I had gotten such a volatile cocktail of emotions that I’d cut her off so it wouldn’t affect me. This little vampire had some spite in her and I had no doubt that if Peter and I couldn’t calm her down, she would kill someone. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she already had.

      She took off running immediately and I threw my web out, not willing to lose track of her or my partner. Peter and I chased after her and we left Viktor alone, tending to his arms. Aeva was fast as all hell and I found myself cursing my kind for our stupid habits. Female vampires were generally faster than males, especially if they were tiny. Males were usually stronger, but only because of our size. Vampires tended to keep this pattern and emphasize it by only ever seeming to change large males and small females. While this did make for fun scraps as mature vampires, it also meant you were either dealing with an angry bear or a hellcat when they were turned. Aeva was a hellcat, without a doubt, and she was faster than most. Peter and I were relying on our stride length to keep up with her.

       “She’s going left,” I shouted. “I’m gonna cut her off and send her back to you.”

       “No, major, wait! She won’t—”

      I ignored him and veered to the side. I could feel his emotional signature, now touched with irritation and concern, but I wasn’t sure why. I was quickly too far away from him to feel the nuance. Still, he continued straight, just like he should have done. As I got closer to where the newborn was, though, his concern grew brighter and Pete took an abrupt left and came straight for us like he’d changed his mind.

       “Idiot,” I muttered, shaking my head. He needed to wait so she could run to him; if he came over to where we both were, she was going to panic. He knew better than to do that, so he better have had a damn good reason for meddling. She was curving around, so I took a straight line to beat her there. When she saw me, I stood up tall, yanked my shirt off, and threw my arms out wide. Then I roared at her, teeth bared. Between that and all my visible scars, she ought to have been terrified. She should have turned tail and ran smack into Peter, who’d just come up behind her. Instead, her rage flared even hotter and she tackled me to the ground like she’d been trained to do it.

      She had one of my wrists crushed in her hand and she was using her other arm as a bar across my throat. Her knees straddled my hips, but she was squeezing them together so hard she was about to crack my pelvis, so I bucked with my legs and flipped us over. I had her pinned then, with my free arm locking her shoulders down to the ground and my legs, thankfully much longer than hers, forcing her thighs wide apart. It always looked so sexual to pin a newborn like that, but it really was effective: if their legs were far apart, they couldn’t plant their feet and kick you off. She, however, apparently only needed one hand to get her work done, because she grabbed my face and dug her thumb straight into my left eye.

       “Settle!” I roared, pumping her full of fear while I did it. I wanted her scared of me; normally I didn’t have to help with that process, but I wasn’t above it. Instead of absorbing what I was sending her, it was like she forced it back at me. I refused to be scared of her, though, so I swept it away and forced my head down. It locked her thumb in my eye socket so she couldn’t pull away and I broke her wrist as I head butted her.

       “ _Cabrón_!” She screeched, writhing beneath me and yanking her hand away as I lifted my head. I kept my remaining eye fixed on her while she looked around frantically, trying to find an escape route.

       “Does she speak Spanish?!” I hollered, feeling Peter right behind me.

       “Hell, I don’t know!”

      He was worse than useless, but I went ahead and tried it, forcing her legs so far apart she yelped and shouting, “ _Cálmate_!”

      Her red eyes suddenly locked onto mine and I knew I had her. All I’d needed was one pause and I blasted her with lethargy; she went fully limp and I climbed off of her, tugging her legs back into a more appropriate position and resetting her wrist while she laid there.

      When I was done, I whipped around to face Peter and demanded, “Why the hell didn’t you help me?” I stuck my arm out at him before he could reply and he set the wrist the newborn had broken, grinding his teeth while he did it. He was deferring, but he wasn’t happy about it.

       “I tried to tell you,” he said. “She won’t change directions if you get in her way.”

       “She’s done this before?”

       “Yeah, she took me down before I sent Vik to get you.”

       “Are you fuckin’ kidding me?” I snapped, fully incredulous. When I was away from my coven, my language devolved at an alarming rate to that of a filthy mouthed cattle rancher. “You didn’t think you ought to pause and let me know that this ornery little shit doesn’t change directions when you intimidate her? That she runs in curves? That she knows how to fight? That she’s not doing any of the things newborns are supposed to do? None of that seemed important to go over with me?”

       “We had to catch her!” He shouted back. “Besides, you put her down. What’s it matter now?”

      I growled and scrubbed my injured eye with the heel of my hand while it repaired itself. It _didn’t_ matter now, I supposed. I wasn’t even hurt all that bad and she hadn’t bit me or anything, it was just irritating to get surprised by a newborn. It didn’t happen often and I didn’t like it.

       “Did you feed her yet?” I asked.

       “No,” he laughed. “You think we could get her calm enough to focus on huntin’ something?”

       “Fair enough. I don’t suppose I’d like to be around her while she hunted anyway.”

       “How long do you think you’ll have to keep her under?” He asked, stepping a bit closer to examine her.

       “I’ll probably give her a good half hour. She can hear us and see us, she just needs to learn that we’re not dangerous to her. Actually, we better get Vik over here to do it too.” I threw my web out to find him while Peter crouched near Aeva’s head. He stroked her cheek and neck and I felt her anxiety rise, but I kept the flow of lethargy to her steady so she was too exhausted to move. If Peter touched her for too long, it would start to affect him. He knew that, though, and was keeping his physical contact short. He was socializing her and letting her know that when he touched her, he wasn’t trying to hurt her. I would do the same once Viktor was on his way. I’d found him, but he was a little out of earshot.

       “Viktor’s due south,” I said, tapping Pete’s shoulder. “He can’t hear us; go about a quarter of a mile and shout for him.” He stood and started jogging while I took his place. Aeva’s bright red eyes were half shut, but that was because of what I was doing to her. If she’d had control of her emotions, her eyes would have been wide open and glaring. I gently grasped her throat, taking a vulnerable part and showing her I wouldn’t hurt her, and checked on how she was feeling. Her emotions had shifted drastically. Her anger was a low simmer now and I had found the fear I’d expected. There was also sorrow and grief. Viktor was feeling grief too; I needed to know what had happened to these two.

      Peter whooped once and then I heard him running back toward me. In a fraction of a second, I heard two sets of feet cutting through the brush. Vik’s power was unsettling, but it was damned useful, as far as I was concerned. It seemed convenient. The pair of them arrived a moment later and I stood up.

       “Come here and touch her face,” I told Viktor, offering him my place. “She’s calm. I knocked her out.”

       “How?”

       “Just made her feel lazy.”

      He nodded and stepped toward her. When he touched her, it was affectionate. There was a flicker of recognition and affection in Aeva as well and I wondered if they were mates.

       “So,” I said, folding my arms. “We learned she speaks Spanish.”

       “Hmm,” he said, not looking away from her face. “It is her first language. It is not surprising that she has reverted.”

      I nodded and Peter stood behind me. Viktor knew a thing or two about newborns, then, if he knew that they could forget a language after the change. He was old and I was sure he’d seen it before, although Carlisle said Viktor had only ever changed Nathan himself. That didn’t matter though. I’d barely ever changed the newborns I’d trained. That had always been Maria’s job. Had Viktor changed this female? Where was his son? There were questions that I needed answered before I could decide just _how_ angry I ought to be that he’d dragged me into this. It took a few moments for Viktor to look up at us and see that I had something to say.

       “Vhat?”

       “Well what happened?” I laughed. “How’d you get her? Who is she?”

       “She is my daughter.”

       “You changed her?” I asked, raising my eyebrows. I was always wary of vampires that grew their covens for no reason. Viktor shook his head though.

       “No, I did not do it. She is Nataniel’s vife and mate. Do you know of my son?”

       “Yeah, I remember meeting him. Ed n’ Carlisle talked about him once in a while after they got that wedding invitation. Did _he_ change her?”

       “Ve vere taken by the Volturi and Aeva vas changed by the brothers.”

       “By the _brothers_?” I repeated. “What, all of them?”

       “Yes,” he sighed, now stroking his daughter’s hair. “I don’t know vhat happened; I did not see it. I vas taken first and Alec held me in his fog for the duration of my stay. Nataniel, Aeva, and Phoenix…I do not know exactly vhat happened to them. I only know the result: Nataniel is still in Volterra, their son vas killed, and Aeva…escaped into the forest, apparently.”

       “Those two had a son? Was he like Renesmee?”

       “No. No, Phoenix vas human.” Viktor stared down at the ground and a wave of sorrow escaped his carefully maintained wall. “He vas six."

      This was all confusing to me and Viktor’s emotional silence was frustrating. “Drop your wall,” I instructed. “I won’t help you if I can’t be sure you’re telling the truth and that’s the only way I can read you. Drop your wall and let me see.”

       “I do not vant to.”

       “I don’t give a _damn_ what you want; you stole me out of my home to help you and—“

       “Tell him the rest,” Peter said, cutting across me. “Tell him what else Aeva did.”

      Peter had admiration, disbelief, and a hint of fear coming off of him. Viktor was giving me nothing as he said, “Aeva killed Alec.”

       “ _What_?”

       “Aeva killed Alec,” he repeated, rising back to his full height and turning to face me. “She vas attacking him vhen I vas released from his fog. I brought her here and she still had his body. I burned him and she claimed his medal as a trophy; ve still have it, if you vould like to see. She had not yet completed her change vhen she killed the vitch boy. Now she is…like this.” He gestured vaguely at where she laid on the ground and suddenly Peter’s emotions made much more sense. So did Aeva’s.

       “She was angry,” I said, thinking aloud as I nodded my head. “She was angry and aggressive when she finished her change, so that would be her last human emotion. It’ll take her a while to burn that off.”

       “How long?”

       “As long as her human blood is in her system,” I sighed, scratching the back of my neck. “That’s generally how that works.”

       “And vhat do I do vith her until then? She is…unruly.”

       “She’s a fuckin’ demon,” Peter laughed, folding his arms. “Might be we can train her to control it though, right, Major?”

       “We’ve done it before,” I agreed. “Sometimes they’re angry at first. Peter sure as hell was and he turned out alright.”

      Viktor seemed unimpressed, looking from me to my friend and back again. “Peter did not kill an ancient vampire vhile he vas still partially human.”

      The old Russian had a point. I had only a slightly improved understanding of the newborn’s condition. I still had no explanation for her other behaviors or how she’d managed to take down Alec. Even if she’d gotten near him, Jane should have taken Aeva down. Clearly, that hadn’t happened. Our only witness to the event wasn’t even conscious at the time and, as such, couldn’t tell us anything more than what we already knew. There was also the issue of Aeva’s mate. I’d only ever known one vampire who had a mate while she was still human and she woke up as the most calm and collected wunderkind I’d ever met. I didn’t really know what effect a mate would have here.

      I glanced at Aeva again and saw her heavy-lidded eyes were fixed on me. Suddenly, I was sympathetic toward her. She was certainly a danger to herself and those around her just then, but she couldn’t help it. She didn’t ask for it or earn it, and so I was starting to think keeping her pinned down like that was unfair. I even started to feel a little guilty the longer I looked at her. She should be alright if I let her up; her anger was gone and I knew what language she responded to now, so I could just talk to her. Viktor and Peter were talking behind me as I stepped a little closer to her.

       “Jasper,” Viktor said, no concern in his voice. He trusted my skills now. “Vhat are you doing?”

       “Just checking on her,” I lied. Peter put his hand on my shoulder, letting me feel his wariness and anxiety because I’d moved. He understood that it was too early to let Aeva up and that that’s what I intended to do, and he told me without saying anything. I relaxed my flow of lethargy just barely, but her anger didn’t perk up. She stayed calm, if fearful, and her eyes shifted to Peter.

       “Déjame,” she said softly. “Déjame en paz.” Peter and I both knew Spanish; Maria had made sure we’d learned. He knew she’d told him to leave her alone and while his wariness and anxiety didn’t wane, he also had a sudden flare of willingness. I let him taste my sympathy and guilt and he agreed. Viktor, meanwhile, was unaware of our silent conversation. I searched for fault lines in his emotional wall, carrying Peter and I’s emotions with me. I knew he could feel what I was showing him because, while he didn’t let down that wall, he gave me a puff of matching sympathy and a feeling of assuredness. He must have thought I was asking how he felt about her being pinned down; he didn’t know I was taking a vote. Two out of three was still a majority.

      I stopped my flow of lethargy altogether and things happened very quickly. Aeva instantly leapt to her feet as her fury flared brighter than ever. Viktor had just begun to yell something indignant when she lunged at him, caught his waist, and they both vanished.

       “What the _hell_ just happened?” Peter demanded, using his grip on my shoulder to make me face him. “You just let her go! I was alright with it too. What the hell?”

      I was just as stunned as he was. “I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head to clear it. “But Viktor just took her somewhere.”

       “Naw, I bet he was trying to jump away, but she sticks to him or somethin’ so he couldn’t,” Peter groaned, scrubbing a palm against his face. “This is bad, Major. What the hell are we supposed to do now? I can’t track Vik when he jumps places like that.”

       “I’ll see if I can spot them, hang on.” I shut my eyes and threw my emotional web as far as it would go. I could reach about three miles if I stretched it thin, but it was always at the expense of clarity and depth of sensing others’ feelings. If I was close to someone, I could pick up on each and every tiny glimmer of feeling to put together a whole picture of what they felt. When I spread thin, I could only ever pick up their dominant emotion and I could gauge its intensity. I was searching for Aeva’s spark of anger and I felt it, just on my northeast periphery when we heard her screech.

      My eyes snapped open and Pete and I were in a dead sprint toward the sound. “She’s in the house,” he grunted. “Can you feel Vik?”

      I checked as we ran and found his blank spot, though he was a good twenty feet from her. He was there, though, so I said, “Yep.”

      Aeva was still screeching as we burst into a clearing with a magnificent lake house. Nathan’s scent was strong as hell here, as was the smell of humans. I didn’t know which one would affect Aeva more. Close as I was, though, I knew she was wrestling with her ever present anger, but also new physical pain and frustration. There was something deeper, below that, but it was like she was snuffing it out. Peter took us straight inside to find Aeva on the floor in the kitchen, kneeling and clutching her eyes, and Viktor looking down at her from above, on a sort of landing. Peter and I joined him and he broke his wall just to let me feel how angry he was.

       “Vhy did you release her?” He demanded. “Vhat could have possibly possessed you to—“

       “We don’t know,” I interrupted. “What happened when you disappeared?”

       “ _I_ did not disappear,” he scoffed, looking back toward his daughter and reinforcing his emotional barrier. “ _She_ took us to a city in Mexico, but only very briefly. She blinded herself in the direct sunlight and so I brought her back here.”

       “She took you?” I clarified. “Well, that explains why you can’t jump away from her if she doesn’t want you to. She has the same gift.”

       “It vould appear so,” he muttered. “But that does not make sense to me.”

       “I need to go down and touch her,” I said, determined to redeem myself after my earlier mishap. “I’ll get a better read on her if I have physical contact and I can try and talk to her. Peter, watch my tail.”

       “Yessir, Major,” he nodded, leaping over the railing with me. Viktor didn’t come with us, but I figured that was for the best. If she could take him somewhere, we needed to keep him away from her. And if she ended up taking one of us somewhere, it would be nice to have Viktor around to bring us back. Peter and I’s boots landed on the hardwood at the same time and Aeva hauled herself to her feet, her chest and head popping up so we could see her over the breakfast bar.

       “Left,” I instructed, moving to my right. Peter followed his order and moved in the opposite direction. Aeva was instantly suspicious and was clearly trying to decide who the bigger threat was. I hoped she’d pick Peter so I could grab her from behind. “Greet her,” I said.

      Pete gave me a quick nod and said, “Aeva, ¿estás bien?”

      She turned her head fully to look at him and I took a large step closer without her noticing.

       “Díme cómo sientes,” he continued, asking her how she felt. “Éstas a salvo conmigo.”

       “Mentiroso.”

      He’d told her she was safe with him and she’d called him a liar. It wasn’t ideal, but at least she wasn’t paying attention to me. I took another step.

       “Díme lo que recuerdes,” he continued, asking for her to say what she remembered. Her frustration ran high then and those muted emotions surged forward. This process made her growl and she took a step back, getting even closer to me. I took my chance and slipped my hand into hers, gripping hard. She whirled around in outrage and, before I could send her anything, she knocked my ass out. She hit me full force with a wave of the most toxic, volatile emotions I had ever felt: Fury, outrage, indignation, grief, fear, sorrow, anxiety, helplessness, loss, confusion, frustration, contempt, hunger, desperation, mistrust, longing, and another healthy serving of fury to cap it off. It was split into two parts and I couldn’t tell quite where one ended and the other began or what exactly belonged to which, but I could feel that division. There was a gap between them and I didn’t know what it was and neither did she and that only added to the mess she was feeling.

      I was flat on my back and she was out the front door before Peter had time to say, “What the hell?” Which he did, in fact, say.

       “What the hell!” He shouted, yanking me upright. “What did she just do to you?”

       “She’s got a lot going on,” I grunted, rubbing my my chest where all of that had landed. “We gotta go get her though. Viktor, stay put.”

      We took off after her, Peter following her scent and me following her emotional signature. For the moment, both were equally reliable. If she turned, I would know before he would.

       “What’s happening to her?” He asked.

       “She’s got more feelings than she should,” I replied. “Something’s wrong with her. Shit, she’s turning right.”

       “Well we can’t stop her; we know that doesn’t work.”

       “Seeing both of us does though. We’ll come up on either side of her. Run that way, you’ll smell her. I’ll come this way.”

      He nodded and we separated. She was heading toward a road and we needed to stop her before she got there. We couldn’t risk her smelling a human all neatly packaged in a car. I felt a pulse of something and she stopped completely. When I came through the trees to where she was, she was already facing me. I didn’t like that she’d been able to do that. Peter was just a beat behind me on his arrival, though, and she growled when she realized we had her blocked off.

      We kept her between us, both of us with our arms out to our sides and our eyes fixed on the little female. She had angled herself so her shoulders were perpendicular to our chests and she turned as we circled her. I couldn’t let her touch me again—I wouldn’t risk that—but I wasn’t sure what to do for her. She knew what lethargy felt like and she was just brushing it away somehow. I didn’t know what to do for her or what she wanted but as her eyes flicked between Peter and I, her longing spiked. She either wanted something from us or she wanted _us_ , and I couldn’t figure out what either of those things meant. I couldn’t figure anything out with her, frankly, and the only emotion she hadn’t shown me she was capable of was all I had to offer. As we circled around again, I sent her a tiny, experimental dose of serenity. She went still instantly and I felt her pull it in. Slowly, she turned her head to look right at me.

      Damn, her eyes were striking.

      She didn’t say anything, but I clearly had her attention, so I sent her a larger dose. Her nostrils flared and her chest rose as it hit her, as though she were breathing it in. Both divisions of her emotions were fully and entirely focused on me and the small doses I was handing her, though they dissolved into her murky abyss almost immediately. When that happened—when an emotion I gave someone disappeared right away—it meant that person couldn’t create that feeling on their own. I was right; she wasn’t capable of it.

      I sent a slow, but steady trickle to her and she shut her eyes, drinking it in. Peter’s eyebrows went up in question, but I motioned to him not to do anything. I didn’t want to risk either of us saying or doing something that might break her concentration. I increased the stream of serenity and added a small splash of contentment, eliciting a small gasp.

       “Toma,” I said, extending my hand. She opened her eyes, slower than she usually did, and looked at it. “Ven aquí, Aeva. Ven a mi.”

      I was telling her to take my hand and come to me. I felt an immediate surge of compliance from her, as well as a surge of anxiety; a battle immediately ensued inside of her, which began to raise her fear and anger until her lip was curling back to snarl. I increased my flow and pulsed contentment, satisfaction, and peace at her. Her step toward me seemed involuntary. I wanted her to take my hand. If she would touch me willingly, her reward would be a full blast of it. I had trained newborns with positive reinforcement like this before; I’d never met one that needed it as desperately as Aeva did, though.

      Her eyes flickered back toward Peter and I added two tiny drops of affection to the little stream between us. Her eyes fixed on mine, her desperation at an all-time high. I knew I shouldn’t have done it and I knew it was manipulative, but I also knew it would work. I reflected for a moment on what it felt like for me when I saw my mate, Alice, and channeled a tiny dose of that love toward Aeva. She took my hand instantly and I let the floodgate open, pouring peace, serenity, and contentment into her. Her eyes rolled back and she wavered for a moment before walking straight to me and threading her arms around my middle, tucking her head against my bare chest and chuffing slightly like a wildcat.

      Peter clenched his fist and pumped it in a victory gesture. I nodded and scooped Aeva up, deciding to walk her back to the house. He walked up right beside me and we both peered down at her face. Her eyes weren’t shut, like I’d expected, but were flicking between us again. Suddenly, I felt very protective of her and a bit wary of Peter, which didn’t make any sense.

       “¿Qué tal?” He asked her, gently stroking her head. I was going to scold him, but suddenly my aversion to him was gone. “¿Estás bien, Chiquita?” Peter liked to call females “little lady.” In Spanish, he substituted “Chiquita” and this made Aeva smile slightly.

       “Queda conmigo,” she said, looking up at him. “No me sales.”

      She’d told him to stay with her and I felt a small surge of compliance in him. It was the same surge of compliance that I normally felt in the others when he gave them a command. That was when it clicked for me: Aeva was a mirror.

      She reflected the powers vampires had back onto them. More than that, though, she could manipulate them; she could _use_ them. She was persuading Peter. She was transporting Viktor. She was affecting my mood. Every emotion that I’d felt that hadn’t made any sense had been because it had come from her. She’d been ready and facing me just a moment ago because she’d felt me approach. I would have bet my life on the fact that her mirror had helped her kill Alec.

      For the time being, I had her well in hand. I could still produce calm and contentment for her where she couldn’t. I didn’t want her talking to Peter anymore though, so I leaned down and whispered, “Cálla.”

      She went silent and nestled against me while we made our way back to the house. Peter had picked up on my desire to stay quiet and shushed Viktor as soon as we walked through the door. I followed Nathan’s scent to where it was strongest in the house: the bedroom. She had been so hungry for that small drop of love I’d fed her that I was certain she was missing him. She had recognized the specific flavor of that love as well, which meant she really did know the mate-bond. No matter how mixed up her head was, smelling her mate would help her. I set her down in the room and she went straight to the bed, taking a pillow from the left side and hugging it to her chest. That would have been the one he used.

      She was in a very precarious place emotionally, but I kept up my steady flow of calming feelings as I back away. “Quedate aquí,” I instructed. “Estaré allá, muy cerco. Puedes sentirme?”

      She nodded and then I nodded, closing the door very slowly. I’d told her to stay put and that I would be nearby; she’d also confirmed that she could feel me from a distance. I didn’t know if that was more reassuring or unsettling, but I left it alone and gathered Viktor and Peter, taking them outside to the deck.

       “You have calmed her,” Viktor praised.

       “Not in so many words.”

       “What’d you figure out, Major?”

      Peter still knew me so well. “I know what her gift is. We’ll have to be very careful with her from here on out, especially with who we let near her.”

      Viktor was on high alert now. “Vhat can she do?”

       “She’s a mirror.”

       “This makes perfect sense!” He said, a bubble of pride bursting out of him. “She can use other’s strengths against them.”

       “It’s a bit more than that,” I continued, glad to see that he’d clearly known other mirrors before now. “She doesn’t just reflect. She can use them; she’s been doing it to Pete and I this whole time. I think it’s how she moved you.”

       “And kept you in place,” Pete added, nodding while he thought it over. “That makes a lot of sense.”

       “It makes _perfect_ sense,” Viktor snarled, his eye flashing. He was incredibly pleased at this revelation and I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Carlisle, at least, would have been wary. Viktor, however, celebrated and embraced vampirism. “Aeva can use a vampire’s strength against them and know exactly how it vorks. This is exactly her. If you had known her before now, you vould understand. Nataniel vill be so proud.”

       “Speaking of him,” I continued, “you said he’s still in Volterra. Any chance he’s on his way back soon?”

      Viktor’s mood darkened immediately and I took that as a no.

       “Vik said they’ve got Renata guardin’ Nate,” Peter explained. I had forgotten that Peter was friends with Viktor’s son. “She makes it so Vik can’t get to him.”

       “They’re holding him, then,” I nodded. “At least that means it’s not an execution. Do you know why they’re keeping him? What they want?”

       “The only person who vould know that is Aeva.”

       “Well she’s not exactly in the mood for talking just yet,” I said, grinning. Peter chuckled and even Viktor smirked. Carlisle would not have found this joke funny and I found that, yet again, Viktor was more my speed as a coven leader. “We’ll have to keep working on her before we can worry about Nathan. I’m sorry Viktor.”

       “I understand.”

       “Well what’re we going to do with her?” Pete asked, looking up at the bedroom window. “What have you got her calmed down with?”

       “Just peace,” I replied. “She can’t make it on her own right now, so I’ve basically got her on an IV drip.”

       “And you can’t quit doing that or she’ll go berserk again?”

       “Yessir.”

       “Well can’t we just pull her apart and settle her down? She can’t hurt nobody if she don’t have arms.”

       “That’s going to piss her off more,” I laughed. “We’d have to put her back together eventually.”

       “Vell then vhat do you think?” Viktor asked, smirking again at our exchange. “Clearly you have a plan.”

       “I do,” I agreed. “We need extra help. She’s feeling things she shouldn’t be feeling and I can’t make out why; she also has some clear self-control issues so we need Carlisle. I want to see if his knack for discipline and compassion will have any sort of effect on her as a mirror. I’d like to grab Edward as well to see what she’s thinking. I can read her feelings, but they’re not telling me a whole lot right now about _why_ she’s feeling that way; I want to see if Ed can give me something to work with. If she can read his mind, maybe he can show her Nathan. She misses him.”

       “Major,” Peter said, scratching the back of his neck. “That’s a good plan, but I’m thinkin’ of a possible snag here. Well, three snags.”

       “What?”

      He listed them on his fingers, starting with his thumb. “Alice, Esme, and Bella; yall are all mated men and they won’t like having you out of sight with a she-beast on the loose.”

       “Esme and Alice will wait behind,” I said, knowing I was completely right. “But Bella won’t; she’ll stay with Ed. They’re still too new of a pair.”

       “And their little girl?”

       “If Esme, Alice, Rose, and Jake are at the house, they’ll leave her with them.”

      Peter chewed this over and sucked a breath in through his teeth. “You, me, Vik, Carlisle, Edward, and Bella is going to be six vampires on her turf; _five_ males.”

       “I know,” I nodded. “But she’ll lean hard on me now that she knows what I can do for her. She trusts you and Viktor now, too. Even if she doesn’t, she’ll favor us over the other three and might listen a bit better.”

       “How do you think she’ll do with Bella?”

       “Bella is very controlled,” I replied, folding my arms. “She’s got a good grasp on herself and is still a newborn, too. She’ll be able to tackle Aeva if we need her to. She’s actually probably the best person to take the little spitfire hunting.”

      Peter and I looked over at Viktor, who was staring hard at the ground while he thought. I assumed he was going to ask that we hurry up on our plan to rescue his son, but instead he said, “Ve need to do something about Aeva’s family. I do not know how long they vere gone, but it must have been at least a few days. Phoenix has unexplained school absences; Aeva’s family is surely vorried. Phoenix is dead, Nataniel is missing, and Aeva cannot see them _ever_.”

       “We’ll have to fake some deaths,” Peter nodded, catching his drift. “And soon, too.”

       “Well damn,” I sighed. “We’ve got our work cut out for us, don’t we? Let’s get to it, I guess. And take me back home, Vik. Alice is going to be pissed.”

       “I thought you said she vould understand.”

       “She will,” I laughed. “Would you like to show up back at that house before I can explain things to her, though?”

       “No,” he smirked. “I prefer to be attacked by only one rampaging female each day.”

      Viktor was _certainly_ not my coven leader, but that had it settled for me: I liked him.


	3. Foggy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aeva is trying to sort some things out.

###  _Aeva_

            Phoenix.

            Phoenix. Phoenix. Phoenix.

            Phoenix was safe.

            No, Phoenix was gone.

            Phoenix. Phoenix. Phoenix.

            Who was Phoenix?

            My head was whirring. Different flashes of things kept smashing their way around my skull. I was married. I had a child. I was human. I’m not human. I can’t have children. Who is my husband? I remembered hurting; everything hurt. My hands hurt for a while. I held them up in front of my face.

            I had a ring on my left hand. Was I married? I flipped my hands over to see my palms. There were shiny marks across my fingers. I remembered teeth in my hands. I remembered killing someone. I had killed someone.

            Phoenix.

            Phoenix. Phoenix. Phoenix.

            I couldn’t have killed that man, though. He was stronger than me. He was different than me. I was just a human.

            Was I a human? Was he a human? Did I kill a human? He felt like a human. He felt just like me.

            Phoenix.

            Who was Phoenix?

            I hadn’t been able to make sense of things at all, no matter how hard I tried. Everything was so _loud_. Sights, smells, and sounds were just so loud and I knew there were other words for those things, but the only one my brain would let me have was _loud_. There were so many more smells and sounds than there had ever been before; I felt like I would be sick if I had to deal with them forever. There was also an extra something I could feel, like very gentle, invisible hands smoothing over my head and my shoulders; that was from Jasper. That was how I knew he was nearby and he was checking on me. I could feel him too, although he had disappeared before. He came back though.

            Phoenix.

            Who the hell was Phoenix? That name kept coming up and up and up in my head, but I couldn’t remember who that was or why he mattered. He was important, though, because his name was the loudest thing in my head. It took more of my attention than the fiery, aching, stinging burn in my throat. I was thirsty, but I was busy.

            Phoenix.

            I had that bloodstained rag clenched in my fist. Viktor had thrown it at my face and it had made my already too-fast brain speed up. I needed to smell it though. The smell of that blood was important. I knew why when I had first smelled it, but I was having trouble remembering now. The only place in this room that I could smell it and manage to think was if I laid in one spot on the bed. The left side was terrible; it made my throat blaze even hotter. This side of the bed smelled…right. It smelled better. It smelled like comfort and I didn’t know who had laid here, but I was glad they had. Their smell was all over this room, thickest on the pillow my head rested on.

            The blood on the rag in my hands though…it hurt me. It hurt me all over. It made my throat scorch, my head pound, and my chest clench. Whose blood was this?

            Phoenix.

            Where was Phoenix?

            I had to keep still and keep my breathing deep and rhythmic. If I did that, the other person in my head stayed quiet. She was terrifying when she took control. She’d been going wild ever since we woke up. I had looked at Viktor—I didn’t know him right away; I had to learn his name—and he had put his hand out to me. I knew his smell: tobacco and leather and frost berries. I’d smelled it while I’d been on fire. He’d been the one holding my hand. I thought he would be nice and might help me, but She didn’t like him. She screamed that he was a male vampire and that he was mature and that he could attack us. She said we needed to defend ourselves and, even though I disagreed with Her, She took my arms and legs and made us lunge at him.

            Phoenix.

            Phoenix. Phoenix. Phoenix.

            She was so angry. I was angry too, I just couldn’t remember why. She knew what She was angry about and it was _everything_. She was angry and skittish and that made Her aggressive. I couldn’t beat Her back when She took over. I wanted to distance myself from Her, but I couldn’t. I _knew_ Her. These arms and legs and ears and eyes weren’t mine. Maybe they were Hers. Maybe I was the intruder in _Her_ head. She certainly knew how to operate this body.

            Phoenix.

            She didn’t know that name. Only I knew that name. But I also didn’t know that name because I couldn’t remember him. But we had something to be angry about.

            Suddenly, I heard someone right outside the door. I had heard the voices earlier; there was a new one, but they had all stayed downstairs. Jasper kept me calm and I kept checking in on what he was feeling; he trusted the new person. I thought, because She liked Jasper so much, She might want to trust the new person too. But as soon as the door opened, we were crouched low, ready to attack. She didn’t trust anybody.

            There were two blonde men in the door way. One was Jasper; something in my mind whispered he was almost the right height. The other vampire was new and he looked almost the right age, and there was something in his face that was right too. They both had the right eyes. Neither had the right hair though. But what did that mean? What was _right?_ What was I looking for?

            “¿Quién eres?” I asked. I didn’t think in the same language I spoke. I didn’t know what that meant. Maybe She spoke Spanish.

            “¿Quién eres?” She repeated for me, snarling on the end.

            “Aeva,” Jasper said, putting his hands up. He was submitting. The other one wasn’t. She growled at him.

            “Carlisle, put your hands up,” Jasper instructed. The older one did so and I stood up straight; She—the beast in my head—had been appeased for the moment. I could feel something around Jasper: he was on edge. He wasn’t sure if I would snap or not. I wasn’t either.

            “Aeva,” the older one asked. “Do you remember me?”

            “No.”

            “I’m Carlisle.”

            Carlisle. Carlisle. Carlisle.

            Maybe I knew him. Hearing his name made Phoenix’s name louder in my head. Maybe this man knew Phoenix.

            “No,” I said. “No te he conocido. Pero…”

            “Aeva, we _have_ met,” he said, smiling gently. “You don’t remember. That’s fine.” He understood the language I spoke, but wasn’t using it. Jasper spoke the same language as me. He didn’t have to; I understood English. Carlisle continued, keeping his voice calm. “But what, Aeva? What else?”

            “Tengo algo dentro de mi cabeza…”

            “What’s in your head?”

            “Un nombre.”

            “A name,” he said, smiling again. “That’s good, Aeva. Whose name?”

            “No sé.” I didn’t know whose name it was. Who was Phoenix?

            “Is the name Nathan?” He asked, raising his eyebrows slightly. I shook my head and dismissed that with a hand wave. I didn’t know anyone named Nathan. Carlisle’s face changed, though. His eyebrows furrowed and he exchanged a look with Jasper. Jasper’s face looked the same and I didn’t need to feel it coming off of him to know he was confused.

            “Aeva,” he said, looking back at me. “¿No recuerdes a Nathan? ¿Nataniel?”

            I shook my head again and She started to stir. She was feeling challenged and as soon as Her interest was piqued, Jasper put a hand on Carlisle’s shoulder and pulled him back a step.

            “Leave it,” he told his companion. “Don’t ask her anymore about that for now; she’s on a cusp.”

            He could feel my beastie too. That’s what I would call Her: The Beastie.

            Carlisle nodded and reset his facial expression back to a calm, neutral one. “What name is in your head?”

            My eyes flicked between his and Jasper’s. I wasn’t sure what would happen if I said it out loud. Something told me I wasn’t supposed to talk about Phoenix. Carlisle wasn’t supposed to know about him. I didn’t know who Phoenix was, but maybe he did. What if it was bad that _I_ remembered him? What if Phoenix was the reason I couldn’t remember anything else? I didn’t want to say it. The Beastie prepared to fight if he asked me to say it again. Jasper pulled Carlisle another step back.

            “Leave it,” he repeated.

            Carlisle changed track again. “Do you know where you are?”

            I looked around and took in the room. The Beastie did not know where we were, but I felt like I did. There were things in places that I expected them to be: a big mirror with a copper frame, matching night stands, a bathroom door. It all looked different though. The version of this room in my head wasn’t quite this room.

            “C-creo que sí,” I muttered, looking around. “Pero es…claro. No…no es embrujada.”

            “It’s not foggy,” he agreed. “The way you remember it is foggy. I know. It’s because you had different eyes the last time you saw it. You had human eyes. You don’t have human eyes now because you’re not a human anymore.”

            Phoenix. Human. Phoenix. Human.

            Those words went together.

            “¿No soy humana?” I asked.

            “No,” he said, shaking his head. “You’re a vampire.”

            I was a vampire.

            Phoenix.

            I remembered vampires.

            Phoenix.

            I was not supposed to be a vampire.

            Phoenix. Human. Phoenix. Human. Phoenix. Human.

            Who was Phoenix?

            The Beastie didn’t know or care about Phoenix. But I did. I was supposed to know who Phoenix was.

            “Are you thirsty?” Carlisle continued.

            The Beastie replied, “Sí.”

            “You are?” He said, looking pleased. “That’s good; that’s normal. You’re a newborn and you want to feed.” He looked over at Jasper and nodded.

            “¿Quieres cazar?” Jasper asked.

            Jasper was good. I could still feel that odd energy, like something was leaking from him and I was soaking it up. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew he was on edge. Alert. Focused. I borrowed it, whatever it was, and tried to make myself focus too. He stared at me for an answer to his question and I shook my head. The Beastie was angry about this but I kept borrowing Jasper’s focus. I barely had a hold on her, but she could eat later. I needed to know who Phoenix was. The Beastie disagreed and started to shove me aside, her anger rising. I heard a snarl come out of our mouth.

            Jasper stepped slightly in front of Carlisle. I crouched and snarled again. Jasper looked so calm but I felt that rippling energy. _On edge. Alert. Focused._ I tried to borrow it again, but I couldn’t now. The Beastie had hold of me and she didn’t like Carlisle blocking the door.

            “She’s going to spring at you,” Jasper said calmly. “Carlisle, back out of the room.” Carlisle looked pained, but he followed the order; I watched him go. Then it was just me and Jasper.

            “Don’t,” he instructed. “Don’t jump.” He had silver marks on his hands too. I saw them on his arms and his neck. He’d put on another shirt, but I knew he had them all over. He had killed people. The Beastie said that he would kill me. She tensed to spring, but he stuck his hand out.

      I knew what that meant and so did She. Before I could react, She reached out and grabbed his forearm. He grabbed ours back and serenity flooded through us like morphine. Our knees almost buckled. He gave us a long, thick dose before he let go. I blinked my eyes back in focus and he backed out of the room, closing the door. I smelled the cloth again and started to pace.

            Phoenix. Phoenix. Phoenix.

            Who was Phoenix?


	4. Assessed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The doctor pays a house call.

###  _Carlisle_

4: Carlisle.

       I sighed, leaning my elbows on my knees and raking my hands back and forth through my hair. I felt Jasper as he reached out to test the energy around me. I wondered if he felt more than what I was aware of. My feelings were pulsing in waves: _Fear, concern, confusion, fear, curiosity, intrigue, fear…_ I didn’t know what else he might be sensing. “You can test,” I murmured, smoothing my hair back into place and resting my chin on my folded hands. “But please don’t change it.”

       “Of course,” he replied. We were on opposite sides of the room; neither of us had moved during our interaction, but I could feel him withdraw his invisible probes. “You don’t have to be so scared of her,” he continued. “She’s working on it; we have a system now.”

       “I know you do,” I nodded. “It’s a clever one. But I still can’t help but be fearful; my friend is still missing, after all.”

       “Nathan?”

      I nodded and so did he. Jasper and I didn’t speak much when we were together, but it was rarely an issue. Like Edward, my newest son’s gift made wordless communication a possibility. In fact, Jasper often understood me faster than his brother did. For as well as he understood me, though, I still worried that he didn’t feel at home with me. He and Alice had become an integral part of our family, but Jasper came from such different circumstances than the others. Still, when he’d met Aeva, he had wanted me to come and examine her. I was deeply honored by his consideration.

      The plan was for Edward to come and see her next. Jasper wanted his telepathic skill to fill in an apparent blank. Jasper was so adept at reading emotions that it was rare that he ever needed Edward’s help. They were usually able to glean the same information with their gifts, just through different avenues. Whatever Aeva was feeling must be terribly complex for Jasper to make such a request.

      She was unstable. Viktor had told me as much before he’d brought me here, but I hadn’t understood the true depth of that statement until I saw her. She was oscillating between a furious, violent, animal version of herself and her own consciousness. The first was more dominant, rarely allowing space for the second to appear. Jasper calmed them both as best he could and left me to my musings.

      I was meant to assess Aeva, but it was a heart-breaking process. I hadn’t been fully prepared for what I found when I met her as a vampire. She was absolutely lovely, but she was so volatile. Newborns were often violent, but it was out of panic. When the animal side came out of her, she was furious and vengeful. I, like Peter and Jasper, had concluded that this was the result of her attack on Alec. Personally, I felt like there were pieces missing. Attacking Alec should have sated her hunt for revenge, but she was still angry. There was something else that had gone on before her change, I was sure of it; some sort of outrage. Aeva wasn’t in a place where she could tell us, having reverted to her first language and barely communicating even with that. We hoped Edward might be able to share some insight, if she ever calmed down enough to meet him.

      Unfortunately, Viktor was also unable to help in the meantime. He’d been captive in Alec’s fog and had no idea what had happened to his family. He was trying to play brave about Nathan’s captivity, but I knew it must have been weighing on him. Nathan was his pride and joy, as was Phoenix. In the brief interactions I’d seen while Aeva was human, Viktor seemed fond of her. With her as a vampire and his only family member he had access to, he was downright irritating in his permissiveness of her behavior. He was proud of her, even when she went on her rampages.

       “Well, look, Edward or not,” Peter huffed, crossing his arms. “That little lady needs to eat. Yall said taking her hunting would be Bella’s job. Why can’t we just get Bella?”

       “You know they won’t separate,” I sighed. “It’s both or neither.”

       “Not if we lie to ‘em. Say we’re takin’ both and then just leave Edward at your place or drop him off in the Himalayas.”

      Jasper snorted and Viktor smirked. It appeared it would be my job to keep my companions in check. “We are not going to _lie_ to Edward and Bella,” I said firmly. “And we’re not stranding Edward anywhere. We’re not going to force them to separate just to serve our own ends. They’re sentient, feeling beings too; we need to be respectful of their wishes.”

       “Viktor didn’t respect my wishes and I’m not that upset about it,” Jasper laughed. I was always happy when Jasper found groups that lifted his spirits, but I didn’t know how I felt about this particular little posse influencing him.

       “And, if ve’re considering the vishes of feeling, sentient beings,” Viktor said, narrowing his eyes at me. “Aeva is still upstairs and has yet to be allowed to give input in this conversation.”

      This was the specific topic that Viktor had been most difficult on. He was usually difficult in general, but he was borderline unmanageable with this. Every three or four sentences, he would circle back to his demand that Aeva be allowed to join our conversation. “Viktor,” I groaned. “She can’t be down here without becoming aggressive.”

       “Then ve must adjust for her. She needs to have a vote.”

       “She doesn’t understand what’s happening to her. I had to tell her she’s a vampire.”

       “Vell now she knows,” he shrugged. “She needs to be here.”

       “I don’t see why she couldn’t be,” Jasper shrugged. “I can handle her. I figured out how to tame her.”

       “You said she can affect your mood,” I responded, feeling the furrow form between my eyebrows. “What if she riles you up?”

      He lifted an eyebrow and Peter put a hand defensively on my son’s shoulder. “No offense, doctor,” the nomad said. “But Jasper’s got a damn good hold on himself.” I glanced at Viktor, half expecting him to be ready to argue me down as well, but he was looking at Jasper with just a hint of skepticism. He liked Jasper, but he valued Aeva over all of us. Anything that might put her in danger was unacceptable to him. I sighed and went back to running my hands through my hair.

      With the exception of Aeva, the person who worried me the most was Viktor. Peter and Jasper were straightforward in what they felt we should do and the means by which we should do it. They made sensible arguments, if from a slightly foolhardy perspective. Truly, they were more alike than even their appearances might indicate. Viktor, on the other hand, was apart from all of us. His primary trait—or quality or behavior or emotion; whichever you might prefer—was loyalty. He would act in Aeva’s best interest, whatever _she_ felt that was. As such, he would be nearly as unpredictable as her. I couldn’t talk him out of it though; his loyalty had always been his defining feature.

      When I’d first met him, it had been his _lack_ of loyalty to anything that had both vexed and fascinated me. I was so glad to find him when I stumbled upon the Volturi; he was another vampire that was welcomed by the group, but remained slightly apart from it. He was different than I’d been, though. He had absolutely no moral objection to the Volturi and their functioning, but he was aligning himself with power for a means of security. He wore a black cloak when I met him. He was one of their highest-ranking guardsmen and served Aro faithfully, but he never seemed as devoted as the others. Chelsea had barely ever worked on him, though. Viktor came and went as he pleased; as long as he returned regularly, Aro seemed content to leave him unaffected.

      Then one day he’d returned with Nathan.

      He’d been Nataniel, then, a terrified German boy turned vampire. He had always been the most handsome man in any room he’d entered and when Viktor presented Nathan to the Volturi, it had been no different. Aro immediately wanted to keep him and Viktor protested his decision for the first time. The stoic, austere, and chronically unaffected Russian laid claim to Nathan and fought Aro down on his behalf. In watching this interaction and all the others to follow—seeing Viktor teach Nathan how to be a vampire—I first began to conceptualize siring another vampire like being a father. If not for Viktor and Nathan, I never would have changed Edward or any of my other children; I never would have built my coven.

      Viktor wasn’t an idiot though and he’d played to logic to keep Nathan away from Aro. A newborn vampire was far too volatile to be cooped up in the tunnels of Volterra. Viktor lived apart from the Volturi for Nathan’s first year, only returning every few weeks to check in. He was so happy then. He kept it in check around the guard, but in brief moments away from them, I saw how happy Nathan made his father. The first time the pair of them fought, I also got to see Viktor angry like I’d never known him to be before. It was as though Nathan amplified Viktor’s emotions, whatever they were, like a real child might do for his parent.

      They were so mismatched. Nathan was friendly and engaging; it was impossible not to be won over by him. Everyone wanted Nathan to like them, much to Viktor’s annoyance. Unlike his son, Viktor wasn’t charismatic. He’d always commanded an immense amount of respect from those around him though. Nathan was so social that it wounded deeply if he didn’t care for you; with Viktor, he was so reserved, it was an absolute honor to find out he enjoyed your company. They were polar opposites and almost no one understood why they stayed together. Viktor complained about Nathan daily and Nathan did the same to his father; but there was also no one that Viktor liked more than his son and no one Nathan trusted more than Viktor. Nathan had always been a flight risk, though, prone to scampering off and needing to be hunted down. It was an entertaining saga to check in on, to be sure, Viktor chasing after his wild son. They were linked, though, no matter what. Viktor’s loyalty was sealed, no matter where his son ran off to.

      Nathan was a wanderer and his nomadic life with his father had suited his spirit. Viktor moved frequently because of his diet and a dose of paranoia; staying in one location called attention to him in ways he didn’t like. He preferred to remain an enigma, rather than showing any real side of himself. Nathan was always genuine, but remained aloof. You always knew you were hearing his true thoughts and feelings, but he didn’t invite others to participate; he might like you, but he would never call on you in his hour of need. That was an honor reserved for Viktor, and only if he and Nathan were on good terms at the time.

      Aeva had changed that.

      Nathan was like his favorite meal: a deer. He was lovely and gentle, but wild and hard to catch. Aeva had caught him, though. She’d brought his whirlwind to a grinding halt for the first time since his creation. Nathan had stayed put, committing to remain where he was for an indefinite time. He would have stayed with Aeva for her entire human life, their son for his, their grandchildren for theirs, and so on. Viktor, too, had become docile. He’d relaxed his controlling hold on his son’s life and started participating in it instead. He’d been gentle and caring with the little boy and had become protective and devoted toward his son’s wife. Aeva had flipped a switch in the Evanov boys, changing them permanently. They would have led a long, peaceful, unconventional life with their humans forever.

       _Aro_ had changed that, though.

      Now, Viktor was without his son and tending to his newborn daughter. I didn’t know why I expected better from Viktor about managing her. I had demanded that my children immediately start work on controlling themselves once I’d changed them, but that was my inclination. I felt happier and more at ease when I was able to manage my animal urges; thus far, I’d seen the same from the members of my family. Viktor reveled in his vampirism and Nathan had too. Aeva was a savage and Viktor was completely fine with her as she was. He was so confident that she would simply grow out of this phase, like Nathan had. I’d met Nathan as a newborn, though, and he wasn’t like his wife. I didn’t want to step on Viktor’s toes within his own coven, but Aeva was dangerous to anyone around her and to herself; he just wasn’t willing to see it.

       “She _does_ need to eat,” I said after a very long silence. “Peter is right about that. Feeding may help calm her a bit; soothing a newborn’s bloodlust can often help them stall their panic.”

       “This ain’t bloodlust,” Jasper replied, shaking his head. “The things she’s feeling...thirst is at the bottom of her list. I don’t think eating will help her all that much.”

       “But she still needs to eat,” I replied. “We’ll ask for Bella first.”

      He didn’t argue anymore and I knew that didn’t necessarily mean I’d convinced him. Jasper was used to being a commander. When he gave input, he was used to his direction being followed. When it wasn’t, he didn’t like to argue. He did, however, take some enjoyment in watching those around him fail for having ignored him. I hoped this wouldn’t be one of those situations. Still, before I took Viktor’s outstretched hand, I had to take a breath to steel my nerves. I was not optimistic about what we had to do; no matter what choices we made, someone was going to get seriously injured. We had to take calculated risks as to who it would be.

      Viktor and I appeared in the living room of my home and Esme looked up from the sofa in surprise. “Carlisle!” She said, getting to her feet and immediately stepping forward to embrace me. I held her tightly as she wrapped her arms around my middle; I needed her just then and she could tell. “Just tell me what we have to do,” she whispered. “We’ll all help.”

       “Gather the others,” I told her, finally breaking our hold. “We have a favor to ask.” She nodded and darted out the back door without another word. That meant she was headed to Edward and Bella’s cottage. Alice had heard my arrival and had come down the stairs of her own accord, followed by Rosalie. Both girls scowled at Viktor when they saw him, Alice because she was still bitter that Jasper had been kidnapped and Rosalie out of loyalty to her sister. Viktor seemed not to notice and sat down in an armchair, prim in his posture. I went to stand beside him as Esme returned with Edward, Bella, and Emmet in tow.

       “We left Renesmee with Jake,” Bella said. “We figured she shouldn’t be here for this, whatever it is.”

       “That was a good instinct,” I sighed, propping my hands on my hips. “This will be a difficult conversation.” Edward was already completely rigid, clearly having read all of the thoughts that Viktor and I were having. The rest of the family sat down to listen but he remained standing, staring hard at me with wide eyes.

       “You all remember Nataniel, correct?”

      Everyone except for Bella nodded.

       “I apologize, Bella,” I said. “You joined our family after his last visit. Nataniel—or, Nathan, rather—is an old friend of Edward and I. I’ve known him his whole life; he’s Viktor’s son,” I explained, gesturing at the Russian sitting beside me. “He, very much like Edward, had a human mate.”

      This sent an electric sort of buzz around the room.

       “He met Aeva years ago,” Viktor elaborated. “They vere married the summer before Edvard met Bella. They had been together for over two years at that point.”

       “Unfortunately, our struggles—particularly our interactions with the Volturi—caused a number of difficulties for Nathan and Aeva. It has resulted in…”

       “They took him,” Edward said, barely above a whisper. “The Volturi took Nathan and you and your entire family…because of us.”

       “Yes.” Viktor said it plainly and Edward flinched at the word.

       “Viktor was the first to be apprehended and was held captive by Alec. Because of that, he is unsure of when, exactly, Nathan, Aeva, and their son were taken.”

      Rosalie’s eyebrows shot up toward her hairline. “Their son?” She asked.

      Viktor’s silence was stony; it seemed I would need to explain. “Aeva had a child while she was human. He was from a previous relationship with another human, although she was involved with Nathan when she gave birth. They raised him together and he never knew Nathan wasn’t his father. His name was Phoenix.”

       “Was?”

      Viktor locked his red eyes onto Rose’s golden ones. “Phoenix is dead.”

      Edward clenched his eyes shut and I continued speaking. “There was an event…an altercation. We’re not certain exactly what happened because, as I said, Viktor was held in Alec’s fog. He was not released until the very end of things. At that point, when he was able to escape, Phoenix had been killed, Aeva had been bitten, and Nathan was taken hostage.”

       “And Alec vas dead.”

      This addition alarmed my family more than anything else they had heard. Everyone began speaking at once, but Rosalie cut across all of them. “Alec is dead?” She demanded. “You have proof of that?”

       “I burned his remains myself,” Viktor replied. “Aeva killed him. She had not even completed her transformation and she tore him apart.”

       “That’s impossible,” Emmet protested. Edward answered for us.

       “He’s telling the truth,” he snapped. “I can see it in his head. Aeva killed Alec and then fainted. She didn’t finish her transformation for another day.”

      Emmet seemed shocked into silence and grasped Rose’s hand. She squeezed back, hard. Alice had her arms hugged around herself, the corners of her mouth still turned down. I knew the part of the story she was waiting for and hurried to reach it. “After her transformation, Aeva became aggressive. Viktor asked for help from Peter, Jasper’s friend. Peter found that Aeva was too much for him to handle alone and asked that Viktor retrieve Jasper as well. Viktor was, admittedly, overzealous in that task.”

       “Jasper is fine,” he shrugged. “He does not mind now.”

      Alice narrowed her eyes but it was Edward’s turn to scowl. I’d thought it before I’d said it and he didn’t seem pleased. “Go on,” he prompted. “Get to the end. Tell them why you’re back.”

      I grimaced and sighed. Ever since adding Edward to my life, and much more often since adding Jasper, I’d never been allowed to be the first to introduce an idea to my family. There were never any surprises from me or any lies; my sons kept me honest to a degree I had not known was possible. I appreciated it, truly. They helped me keep my conscience clear, but they also frequently set me in situations like this. Edward’s tone had prompted my family’s reactions; they had already decided that whatever I had to say was not to be taken in a positive light.

       “We are here,” I began, “because Aeva needs additional help. Our family is uniquely gifted in many areas and we are very well suited to provide that assistance.”

       “All of us?” Rose asked, sounding exceptionally skeptical.

       “No,” Edward snapped, still glaring at me.

       “Jasper has requested that Edward join us,” I replied. “He can’t quite make sense of Aeva’s emotions and would like Edward to read her mind to see if he can share anything new.”

      Edward kept up his scowl, but the rest of our family was confused. My wife was the first to try to puzzle out what was happening. “Do you not want to go, Edward? Do you feel unsafe about it?”

       “No,” I sighed, frustrated to be trapped by my son again. “We would also like Bella to come and help us.”

       “Ve vant Bella first,” Viktor added, giving her a small smile. Bella looked shocked.

       “Me?” She asked. “What can I do? My newborn year just ended, so I’m not strong like that anymore. I can’t fight her. I certainly can’t do anything for her that Jasper can’t do.”

       “Well that’s not true,” I protested, always reluctant to hear Bella disparage herself. She’d made a nasty habit of doing that; it was one of the first things I noticed about her, even when she was human. “We—Peter, Jasper, Viktor, and myself—all agree that you would be an invaluable help to us in dealing with Aeva.”

       “Why?”

       “Aeva is a mirror,” I explained. “That is her gift and it emerged immediately.”

       “What is a mirror?” Bella asked, leaning forward. “What does that mean?” This was quickly becoming a conversation just between Bella and myself.

       “Aeva is, in some ways, the opposite of a shield. You cannot be affected by the gifts of other vampires. Aeva can be, but she can also reflect them back on their owner. Her particular mirror ability is very powerful, because she can also manipulate the gift. For example, when Jasper affects her mood, she can reject his influence, reflect it back, or use his own gift on him. As long as he is affecting her mood, she can affect his, however she would like. She can do the same to Viktor. If he attempts to transport her, she can transport him in return.”

       “That’s rad,” Emmet whispered. Rose pinched him and he fell silent.

       “Because of her ability,” I continued, “we don’t ever fully know what the outcome will be when she meets a vampire with a gift. She can turn it back on them, and so any gift that might control her or subdue her is ineffective and possibly dangerous.”

       “As Alec learned,” Viktor added, smirking. “Jane too.”

       “That’s how she did it then,” Rose sniffed, seeming impressed. “Alec tried to take her down and she paralyzed him with his own fog. She tortured Jane too?”

       “She must have,” he affirmed. “Jane vould not let Alec go unprotected.”

       “Good.”

       “But her ability to mirror and manipulate gifts is exactly why we need you, Bella,” I said, pulling everyone’s attention back to the matter at hand. “Your gift is one that she should be incapable of turning against you. The most she should be able to do is to block you from putting your shield around her mind; I think she could potentially be able to cover your mind from Edward and the others, should she be so inclined, but that is your natural state anyway.”

      Bella went quiet as she thought this information over. Edward still seemed angry, but was not staring as intently at me. I had shared everything he had wanted me to share, and the rest of our family was able to see it. He’d held every one of us in a vice like that on multiple occasions; we knew the signs well.

       “What…what would I do?” Bella asked after a long moment.

       “You need to take her hunting,” Viktor replied. “She has not eaten yet. She feels too threatened to focus on feeding, but the longer she is hungry, the longer she vill remain aggressive.”

       “You want Bella to go out into the woods alone with Aeva?” Edward laughed. “No, absolutely not. Aeva could rip her to pieces and you know it.”

       “It’s true that Aeva does have a predisposition for lashing out,” I responded, choosing my words carefully, “but Jasper has been managing her well. And we would monitor the situation; Viktor can remove her from the area if she is any danger at all.”

       “No,” Edward said, “that’s not good enough. She’s a mother, Carlisle. She needs to be—“

       “I’ll do it,” Bella snapped, staring hard at me and pointedly ignoring Edward. “I want to help and you’re right, she shouldn’t be able to use my gift against me. Let’s go.”

       “Bella!” Edward said, clearly shocked. “Bella, think about this, please. You need to—“

       “No,” she said, getting to her feet to face him. “You need to stop deciding what’s best for me. You did it when I was a human and it didn’t always go well.”

      This shocked Edward into silence and the rest of us looked away.

       “I will give you a pass on what you did when I was human,” Bella continued, “because you genuinely were dangerous to me. I understand that now; you were trying to keep me safe because I couldn’t defend myself from you or any other vampires. That’s not the case anymore, though. I’m a vampire now too and I get to make these decisions; I’m just as capable of protecting myself as you are. And I know I’m a mother, but it sounds like we—you and me, Edward—ruined Aeva and Nathan’s lives. Aeva was a mother too and her son died because of us. Because of…well, because of _you_. I didn’t get to be a part of the decisions that made you go to the Volturi. We owe this to them; we owe it to them to help, so I’m going. I think you should too, when they come back for you.”

      We were all aware of the fact that there had been tension between Edward and Bella for quite some time now, but outbursts like this from Bella were very rare. These discussions tended to be in private. However, Bella hadn’t said anything untrue, and I was certain Edward was hearing as much from everyone in the room at that very moment. He remained silent, looking appropriately admonished, as Bella turned to Viktor. She stuck her hand out toward him.

       “Let’s go,” she said. Viktor glanced at me and I nodded; with my permission given, he took my daughter’s hand and they vanished. I was left alone for a few seconds, my family staring at me.

       “Tell Jasper I miss him,” Alice said.

       “Of course.”

       “I’ll come when I’m called,” Edward muttered, looking away. I nodded, although he didn’t see it, and Viktor returned.

       “Come,” he instructed, extending his hand to me. I looked at Esme then and she blew me a kiss; I smiled at her and then set my palm on Viktor’s. Even a small bit of attention from her helped me settle my nerves. She would take care of Edward and Alice while we were gone; I would take care of Jasper and Bella. It was something we could both trust the other to do.

      Bella was lacing and unlacing her fingers when we appeared beside her. The fire in her belly now burnt out, she was clearly nervous and I couldn’t blame her, after what we’d just told her about Aeva. I put my arm around her shoulders and pulled her into my side as we started walking, giving her a reassuring hug.

       “Jasper wants Aeva to be able to hear us as we get closer,” I explained. “That’s why we’re so far out here. We’re not sure how she would take the surprise of you just showing up.”

       “She doesn’t really take anything vell,” Viktor said, grinning. “Especially surprises.” Bella smiled back and I was confused as to how Viktor’s comment seemed to calm her down. I supposed Bella and Viktor had similar attitudes on many things; she loved being a vampire almost as much as he did. Perhaps Bella was more curious than nervous to meat Viktor’s vicious daughter. As we walked, we heard voices far ahead. We’d only just reached hearing range and Aeva already sounded unhappy.

       “Go to Jasper, darlin’,” we heard Peter say. “Go on, he’ll help you calm down. You ain’t got nothin’ to be afraid of. It’s just Bella.”

       “Try to look nonthreatening,” I instructed. “And limit direct eye contact with her.”

       “If she attacks you anyvay, just run,” Viktor added. “She is very qvick, though, and can probably catch you, so perhaps run to me, specifically.”

      Bella nodded and slipped out from under my arm to stand a step closer to Viktor which, again, I couldn’t blame her for. He could get her out of a sticky situation much faster than I could.

      Aeva was whispering to Jasper, still speaking in Spanish. Jasper was responding in English, though because he’d figured out that she could still understand it. Encouragingly, she was describing Bella’s scent to him and she seemed to give it a positive review. Her sense of smell was still absurdly strong because she was a newborn; it wasn’t surprising she could pick Bella out at this distance. Bella smelled floral, like wildflowers and roses with just a hint of crisp, green grass. Aeva, apparently, liked it.

      Once we were close enough, I asked Bella, “Can you smell her?”

      Bella breathed deeply, picking up an old trail from Aeva’s first escape. “Hmm,” she said, cocking her head. “It’s kind of…spicy. And sweet. It’s really nice.”

       “Good,” I praised. I was glad she liked Aeva’s scent too. A phenomenon very much like mates often occurred between vampires in platonic relationships. A vampire’s scent was a good indicator of whether or not you might get along with them. If their scent appealed to you and yours to them, you were predisposed to enjoy their company. I was reluctant to call it a hard rule, because I didn’t particularly care for Viktor’s tobacco and fur scent, but we had managed to forge a friendship. I’d never asked if he liked my scent; I had just always assumed he didn’t.

      As we got closer to the house, Aeva started making a high-pitched sort of whine. It was equal parts anxiety and excitement. Bella stepped even closer to Viktor, but remained very alert and curious. Her mood seemed to match Aeva’s exactly. It made me tense. Because Aeva couldn’t get a hold of herself, she was operating like an animal, which was cuing Bella to do the same. If they kept their current attitudes, the pair of them would either instantly bond or immediately fight. It was too late to turn back, though, as we had reached the front door.

       “Oh,” Bella said, staring up. “This house is beautiful.”

      Viktor smiled and opened the door, striding confidently inside. Bella and I followed behind him to find Aeva holding Jasper’s hand beside him at the dining room table. Peter stood behind them, his hand on Aeva’s head, stroking her hair. When Aeva saw Bella, her eyes went a little wider and she climbed fully into Jasper’s lap, crouching on top of his thighs.

       “You’re alright,” Peter said, offering his hand. She took it, still gripping Jasper’s with her other. Peter couldn’t offer her anything to calm her down, and so it was a good sign that she had bonded with him anyway. She was making social bonds, which was very encouraging to see. She was starting to overcome her animal side.

      Jasper was staring at Aeva’s face, his expression benign. “She’s alright,” he said, smiling just slightly. “She’s curious. She’s a little nervous, but she’s won’t get set off. Come closer, Bella, it’s alright.”

      Jasper, like Viktor, was now very invested in Aeva’s behavior. While Viktor was proud of any displays of vampirism, even when she broke his bones, Jasper seemed proud of Aeva’s budding ability to control herself. While this was, in my opinion, a more appropriate goal, it did mean that Jasper would now also be forgiving of Aeva’s shortcomings. That was the nature of pride: once you knew what someone could achieve, if they backslid, you simply held out hope that they would reach their potential again. It was what had kept me so passive when Edward ran away to live with Nathan and Viktor all those years ago; he’d hunted humans and I’d never scolded him for it. If I hadn’t been so proud of him, I would have told him off or made him stay away. That was the attitude that Jasper and Viktor now had about Aeva. Again, it seemed it would be down to me to keep my companions in check and, now, to ensure Bella’s safety.

      Bella walked forward, staring at Aeva but thankfully not making eye cotact. The pair of them were measuring each other. Bella stopped walking when she was about five feet away and said, “Hello, Aeva.”

       “¿Quién eres?”

       “Answer in Enlgish,” Jasper instructed.

       “I’m Bella. I’m supposed to take you hunting. Are you hungry?”

       “No, no tengo hambre. Tengo sed.”

       “You’re thirsty,” Bella nodded. I was glad she’d taken Spanish in high school. “Come with me and I’ll help you get something to drink.” She stuck her hand out, palm up, and Aeva stared at it.

       “Go ahead,” Peter urged. “I’ll come too. You, me, and Bella, huh?”

      This hadn’t been part of the original plan, but I supposed Peter tagging along certainly wouldn’t hurt. I wanted Jasper to have a bit of distance from Aeva, knowing that she could feed emotions back to him. If she went hunting with him at her side, I was worried she could get him to attack someone else. Instead, while they were gone, he would help Viktor and I get things in order to fake Aeva’s death. She couldn’t be seen by her family again and we couldn’t very well explain away Nathan’s disappearance or Phoenix’s demise. Instead, we were going to crash their car and leave behind some carefully selected charred remains. Jasper was well practiced in creating and destroying people through fictional means; he’d been doing it for our family for years.

      Aeva shifted, whimpered, and then set a foot on the ground. She was still barefoot and wearing only the dress Viktor had put her in during her change. It was heavily stained now, but it would have to do. Perhaps if she got comfortable enough with Bella, a change of clothes for our feral acquaintance could be my daughter’s next task.

      After a long pause, Aeva’s second foot joined the first and she stood up, still eyeing Bella. Bella’s instincts were serving her well and she stayed still until Aeva reached for her; then she opened her hand a bit wider to take Aeva’s fingers with her own. Slowly and carefully, Bella guided the smaller woman to her side. Peter followed and they walked Aeva out the front door. We held our breath as they walked away, tension building until they started to run. A prominent concern was, once Bella and Peter were moving quickly, Aeva might feel threatened and attack. Based on the sounds we heard, that outcome had been avoided, and Jasper, Viktor, and I finally exhaled.

       “Let’s get to work,” I said. “The more we can get done while Aeva is gone, the better.”

      Jasper nodded and got to his feet, running upstairs. I heard him rummaging in drawers, looking for wallets and personal documents. He would also need to stage the house a bit. We needed to make it look like Viktor lived here as a human so that, once the bodies were discovered, he could stay and we’d be able to continue using the house as an operations hub. Aeva would need to be hidden for a short while, though, when the police came and again when her family inevitably came to visit Viktor. I just hoped that she could calm down quickly enough to be relocated.

       “Ve should use Phoenix’s real body,” Viktor murmured. “I vant his family to have him. Ve can use replacements for Aeva and Nataniel, but Phoenix must be buried properly.”

       “Alright,” I said, knowing full well how difficult that must have been to say. “Go take a sheet outside and wrap him up. We’ll move him when we’re ready.”

      Viktor nodded and went to the laundry room for the sheet. I opened a lap top and started searching through medical records. I needed to know Aeva’s blood type and see if I could locate dental records. We would need to adjust the teeth of any cadavers we stole. There were three or four bodies that had recently arrived at a nearby morgue that would be the right height and weight for Aeva, but Nathan would be a challenge to replicate. He was so tall.

      Jasper appeared at my side a few minutes later, setting two wallets on the table beside me. “There’s a believable amount of identification in there,” he said. “I also put something in the car about Phoenix; doctor’s bill, report card, those things. They’re in spots where they should only partially burn.”

       “Good,” I praised, pulling up a photo of a 6’7’ red haired man. “This could do for Nathan. We’ll need to break the nose pretty severely though.”

       “And the jaw.”

      I nodded in agreement and Jasper took a seat in the chair beside me. “Viktor’s outside,” I murmured. “Best to leave him for a bit. How is he doing, though?”

       “He has a wall up,” Jasper replied. “But the air tastes sad.”

      I nodded again.

       “We should crash them somewhere remote. I’m going to pull up a map on Nathan’s phone; make it look like they were visiting the mountains or something.”

       “Send them to a city,” I replied, turning my search to small, recently deceased women. “They live in the woods, it wouldn’t make sense for them to go nature seeking.”

       “Pittsburgh?”

       “That’s good. Somewhere they might visit, but not feel a need to tell their family.”

       “I still think the crash should be remote. We’ll burn the car and make it look like it happened a while ago, bury it about half way in snow. That’ll help explain their absence if it’s been long.”

       “We still don’t know how long they were away. Do they have any messages from Phoeni’s school indicating how many days of school he’s missed?”

       “Not that I found. The Volturi may have been taking care of that, though. They would have been clean about it all; subtle.”

      He was right, of course. “I’d bet if we called the school, Phoenix will be listed as on vacation.”

       “I’ll check.”

      Jasper stepped outside, going out the front so as not to disturb Viktor, and I continued my work. A few hours later, I had located body doubles for Aeva and Nathan and enough blood in both Aeva and Phoenix’s blood type to be convincing in a car crash. We would need to make it look like Phoenix had bled out, so this was no small feat. Still, by the time Viktor returned from wrapping his grandson’s body in a shroud, I had a list of locations for him to visit to make collection calls. Jasper had been checking phone records and voicemails; he’d learned that someone had faked Nathan’s voice and called Phoenix’s school to inform them of a week-long family trip to New York City. Another call had been made to Aeva’s mother, also an expert fake. Jasper had been right that the Volturi would have covered their tracks; it also meant that Aeva and Nathan hadn’t been missing for very long at all.

       “This is good,” Jasper said, pulling up a map on my laptop screen. “If we plant the car here, we can bury it in snow and make it look a few days old. This spot is on state lines, so there will be a fight between police departments about who’s jurisdiction it is. It’ll slow them down.”

       “Good,” Viktor nodded. “That is very good.”

      I was saddened at how well things had worked out for us to fake three deaths, even if it did help to uncomplicate things. Jasper seemed like he was about to ask about the shift in my mood when we all registered a noise coming from the front of the house. Someone or something was crashing through the trees in a dead sprint. We all hurried outside just in time for Peter and Bella to bolt past us into the house.

       “She’s mad,” Peter shouted. “Get ‘er, Major!”

      Less than a second later, Aeva bounded out of the trees. She looked absolutely wild, with blood smeared down her chin and neck, remnants of animal fur still between her fingers, and her dress nearly torn off her body. She paused when she saw us and Jasper extended his arms; she ran straight to him, letting him embrace her.

       “What did yall let her eat?” He demanded, looking over his shoulder at Peter and Bella.

       “She found two bears fighting,” Peter laughed. “Cleaned both of ‘em up.”

       “You let this little demon’s first meal be angry bears?”

       “I hear it’s a delicacy.”

      Bella laughed, clearly still on an adrenaline high. She was intact, though, which was good to see. Peter’s wrist had been broken again, though. I reminded myself that I would need to thank him for helping to keep Bella safe.

       “How is she feeling?” Viktor asked, reaching forward to stroke his daughter’s tangled hair. Aeva chuffed in response.

       “She’s excited, and a little less angry. I think you were right, Carlisle. The hunt helped her; maybe not feeding, but being able to take out some aggression was good for her.”

       “Do you think she’s ready to meet Edward now?”

       “I would like her to, yes.”

       “Let’s clean her first,” Viktor said, smiling. “She is filthy.” He didn’t seem bothered at all that Peter had been attacked again. Neither did Jasper or Peter for that matter. Bella was hard to read, but it seemed she’d been impressed by Aeva’s ferocity. It seemed I was becoming more and more grossly outnumbered among those that would want to keep Aeva firmly in hand and Aeva was building a fan club.

       “Bella,” I said. “Do you feel safe taking Aeva upstairs to wash and change?”

       “Sure,” she said, nodding. “Aeva, come on.”

      The smaller female ducked immediately out of Jasper’s embrace and he scowled, just for a moment. She grinned and went to Bella. An exchange I couldn’t see had taken place between them, I was sure of it. Still, Aeva went happily to Bella and the pair went upstairs; again, I was glad to see social bonding happening, but I was far from calm.

       “Viktor,” I said. “Why don’t you go and fetch Edward? We can have him waiting downstairs for Aeva when she’s ready. Will that work?”

      Jasper nodded, knowing my question had been directed at him. “She’s feeling more confident and she likes almost everyone here.”

       “Almost?”

      He faltered for just a moment. “She’s not exactly keen on you, specifically. She’s suspicious of you.”

       “But not threatened?”

       “No.”

       “I’ll take it. Viktor, go ahead.”

      He vanished and the three of us that remained walked into the living room. Upstairs, we could hear Bella and Aeva whispering; they sounded every bit like excited girls together. The water ran and fabric rustled. Aeva had changed and washed her face. It sounded as though Bella might have been brushing her hair when Viktor returned with Edward. Things quickly took a turn for the worst.

      Edward yelped and gripped the sides of his head and Aeva roared in the room above us. There were sounds of a struggle and then Bella screamed. Viktor took Edward away and we rushed upstairs to find Aeva on the landing in an absolute rage, Bella’s left arm clutched in her hand.

      It was really for the best that Edward was already gone.


	5. Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aeva gets her memory jogged

###  _Aeva_

       It felt good to run. Peter and Bella had walked me into the woods and I was very careful to stay slow, like them. My Beastie knew Peter and she already liked him; she didn’t have a problem with Bella. In fact, she had surprised me by _liking_ Bella just a little bit. She told me _this female is weak and slow; we can fight her_. She didn’t try it though, because Bella gave us no reason to. It had helped that when Jasper had seen Bella, he’d felt recognition and a bit of happiness; they were friends. If Jasper trusted her, I knew I could trust her.

      We’d walked for a good distance before Peter asked, “Wanna run, girly?”

      I was surprised by that. So far when I’d run, he and Jasper had hunted me down. Now he was offering.

       “We’ll run with you. Not chasing, just _with_ you, alright?”

      I nodded and looked at Bella who smiled at me. She looked excited.

       “Corremos?” I asked.

       “Yeah,” Bella said, jogging a few steps ahead of me. “And we’ll help you hunt. It will help your throat.”

      That did sound good, my throat had been causing a strong burn since—

      Phoenix.

      That name was an intrusive thought. It came up and up and up. No one had talked about Phoenix or mentioned who he was. I still didn’t know if I should talk about him, so I kept him silent. My Beastie didn’t know Phoenix; she didn’t react when we thought about him. Phoenix was an intrusion in just my mind, not hers. I ignored him and followed Bella, jogging at first, then running.

      Then a dead sprint.

      I was much faster than Bella or Peter, but I didn’t like leaving them behind. I wasn’t running away, I was running with them. The Beastie would surge ahead and then slow down, waiting for them to catch up a bit. She always kept them within earshot; she understood the game too. It was like we were running as a pack and I was the leader.

      The Beastie was in full control of our body and I didn’t feel like I needed to take it back from her. She wasn’t calm, per say, but she was less tense than she’d been thus far. She liked running just as much as I did; she liked being able to use her body. She was so comfortable in our skin that I was certain it belonged to her and that I had simply wound up inside with her by mistake. This body was hers and only she really seemed to know how to use it.

      Phoenix.

      I shook my head.

      Peter and Bella let us lead them around in a huge loop for a long time; we ran through miles of heavy tree cover. Finally, as I was slowing down, Peter whistled for me and shouted, “Hold up, girly. Wait there.”

      I felt a distinct urge to halt and I froze in place. If I told Peter not to tell me what to do, I knew he’d stop giving commands. Before I did that, though, I decided to hear him out. The Beastie, however, was irritated to have stopped her romp and let him know through a soft growl.

       “Now quit that,” he laughed. “I only wanted to see if you wanted to kill something or if you just planned to get your steps in for the day.”

      I didn’t respond, but the Beastie quit growling.

       “You have to listen,” Bella instructed, closing her eyes. She was the only person who closed her eyes around me and the Beastie whispered _she trusts us_. Given our track record, I didn’t know if that was a good choice or not, but it was still nice to know that someone had some faith in us.

      I listened along with Bella, choosing to keep my own eyes open. Far off to my left I heard a roar. I took off toward it immediately, Bella and Peter struggling to keep up. The roar got louder, split into two voices, and was interspersed with grunts and thuds. I breathed deeply, pulling in a scent that reminded me a bit of Viktor. There was fur. But there was also earth, breath, and hot, thick blood. The Beastie pounded our feet harder against the earth and we went flying forward. We burst into a clearing where two fat black bears were brawling. It was a fight for territory and they had clawed open one another’s chests and necks in the fray. Their blood was all the Beastie needed to see before I was completely shoved aside. She leapt at one and tackled it easily, sinking our teeth in just behind its jaw bone. The other bear panicked, clearly understanding that a new predator had interrupted. It batted me with a massive paw, braying loudly.

      The Beastie let it go after us and its claws glanced off our skin harmlessly, but tore open the back of our dress. The Beastie made quick work of the first bear and then lunged for the other. It had no time to escape before she had him. She was greedy and kept drinking from both, switching back and forth, as they panted and slowly went limp.

      She drank until our stomach felt like it would burst. The burn in our throat hadn’t gone away but, as Bella had promised, it had helped. Once the Beastie was sated, she went dormant and I staggered to my feet. Bella and Peter were standing on the edge of a crag, staring down from overhead.

       “Good girl,” Peter praised. “Want more?”

      I shook my head.

      Phoenix.

      I shook it again.

       “Want to run?” Bella asked, grinning.

      Bella was my kind of woman. I darted away and the pair of them were left to play catch up again. I ran in complicated circles, daring them to cut me off. Bella popped out from behind a tree and startled me. The Beastie’s anger flared, but then Bella laughed. It was clear and pure and it was like the Beastie’s mind stalled. I knew what laughing was though; Bella meant us no harm. I laughed too and turned the other way, running back the way I’d come while she chased after me.

       “Well I’ll be damned,” Peter called. I couldn’t see him, but he could clearly see us. “Bella, you’ve got her _playing_.”

      Bella laughed again and surged forward, tapping her fingers to the middle of my back. I froze as soon as she touched me and she took off the other direction, calling over her shoulder, “You’re it!”

      Something was going on here that the Beastie didn’t understand. She didn’t feel threatened by Bella, just confused. She was letting me drive for once because I knew the game. I ran after Bella, eager to tag her back. She darted in and out of trees and changed directions, but I was faster. I caught up to her soon enough and tapped her back, just under her shoulder blade, and there was a snapping noise.

       “Ow!” She skidded to a halt and turned to face me, favoring the side I’d touched. I’d cracked her rib. The Beastie woke up at the sound of her yelp and forced our head a little lower and our shoulders down.

       “Lo siento,” I whispered.   
  
      “It’s alright,” she said, reaching forward to touch my arm. “You didn’t mean to. You have to be careful when you touch things; you’re stronger than you think you are.”

       “Lo siento.”

       “Oh, don’t look so sad,” she laughed, sliding her hand down until she held my fingers in hers. Her hands were long and thin, just like the rest of her; my hands were short and strong like me. She wrapped her delicate fingers around my hand and squeezed gently.

       “Now you try.”

      I squeezed back, watching her face carefully. She didn’t wince when I released, but smiled instead.

       “Very good!” She praised. “Try again; try something else.”

      I kept my eyes fixed on her face as I stretched my other hand toward her, reaching up toward a lock of hair that hung down her chest. Slowly, I twirled it around my fingertip. She smiled again.

      Phoenix.

      I shook my head.

       “Try moving it,” she instructed. “Toss it over my shoulder.”

      I flicked my wrist and it sailed through the air, hitting her back and blowing a gust of her flowery scent toward my face. Bella smelled nice.

       “See?” She said, looking right into my eyes. “You’re getting the hang of it. You just have to concentrate; it gets easier the more you practice.” She smiled and I smiled, setting my palm against the curve of her face. She leaned into my hand and some memory flickered at the back of my mind. I had leaned into a palm like this before; perhaps it had been Bella’s. I didn’t remember her scent though, so probably not. This was an affectionate gesture and Bella’s reaction showed trust. She seemed to be the only person that couldn’t control me in some way that still trusted me. I appreciated that.

      I heard Peter coming up behind Bella and he slowed down as he approached. “Woah, there,” he said, taking in the scene before him. “Whatch’yall doing?”

       “Just practicing being gentle,” Bella replied, carefully removing my hand from her face, but keeping it clasped in her own.

       “Be careful doing that,” Peter warned. He was speaking to Bella. “Our little devil here spooks easy.”

       “I know,” she said, sound irritated. “But if you just give her a chance…”

       “Bella, I’m not saying she’s out of control; just that she’s still figuring it out. When she gets set off, she’s prone to causing injuries. It might be best to keep her hands away from your face for now.”

      I liked Peter plenty, but he was getting on my nerves. Bella and I had been doing just fine; we didn’t need a lecture. Bella dropped my hands and turned to face him, her hip jutted out to the side and arms folded. I growled quietly behind her to show my displeasure.

       “There, now see,” Peter said, scolding. “You can’t be growlin’ at people. It’s scary. You gotta use your words.” I growled a little louder and he rolled his eyes, reaching forward to take Bella’s arm and pull her toward himself. That proved too much for the Beastie, who evidentially thought of Bella as ‘ours’ and she snarled at him, lashing out a hand.

       “Damn, girl,” He shouted, leaping back and just barely dodging us. “Settle!”

      I felt that surge of desire to do what he said again and neither me nor the Beastie liked it. Peter could tell us what to do. I had a deep, annoying sense that I’d been getting told what to do for a long time, even before I could remember. I didn’t like it. The Beastie approved when I snatched at him again, this time catching his arm. She was the one that squeezed it, though; I hadn’t wanted her to do that. I didn’t mean to break his bones.

       “Aw, hell!” He yelped, wrenching free. “Bella, it’s time to go!”

      He dashed off and now the Beastie was chasing him; she was _not_ playing tag. He was crafty though, and kept changing directions. He wasn’t telling Bella where he was going, though, so when she was running, she just kept getting in the way. The Beastie liked her, but she didn’t like tripping over another female. Bella was starting to piss us off too.

      Peter took a sharp right and I went after him; suddenly it was like I’d crossed a threshold. I could feel frustration, guilt, and sadness around my ankles. This was Jasper and something was wrong with him. I ran a bit faster and so did Peter and Bella; I wasn’t chasing them anymore though. The Beastie was content that they’d been scared well enough. Now we were trying to find Jasper; he needed help.

      We were close to the house and even with the breeze blowing the wrong way, I could smell him. When I was close to the clearing, I heard Peter shout, “She’s mad. Get ‘er, Major!”

      I burst through the trees to see Carlisle, Viktor, and Jasper all standing outside. Peter and Bella had gone straight into the house. The Beastie wasn’t concerned with them anymore, though, and went straight to Jasper when he opened his arms. Just as I’d thought, the painful emotions were coming from him. I let him feel how angry I was that he was upset and I also let him feel how protective I was.

       “What did yall let her eat?” He demanded, closing his arms around me and looking back into the house.

       “She found two bears fighting,” Peter laughed. “Cleaned both of ‘em up.”

      I felt a flicker of amusement from Jasper. “You let this little demon’s first meal be angry bears?”

       “I hear it’s a delicacy,” Peter teased, grinning. Bella laughed as well and Jasper felt happier. I hugged him a bit tighter and let my anger fizzle out; he ran his hand up and down my back and gave me pride, calm, and affection. That last one was like morphine.

       “How is she feeling?” Viktor asked. I felt his hand sliding over my hair and the Beastie made a happy sound. She liked Viktor; we both did. He didn’t trust us like Bella, but he liked us a great deal, which was almost preferable.

       “She’s excited, and a little less angry,” Jasper replied, setting his chin on the crown of my head. “I think you were right, Carlisle. The hunt helped her; maybe not feeding, but being able to take out some aggression and burn some energy was good for her.”

       “Do you think she’s ready to meet Edward now?” The doctor asked. His yellow eyes were flicking between my face and Jasper’s and I didn’t like his expression. He was always so suspicious.

       “I would like her to, yes,” Jasper told him, nodding. I didn’t know who Edward was, but Jasper was adamant that I needed to meet him. If Jasper wanted it for me, I figured it was important. Although…he hadn’t wanted Bella to come, so maybe his judgement wasn’t perfect.

       “Let’s clean her first,” Viktor said. “She is filthy.” He sounded proud as he said that and even gave my head a little pat. I was still looking at the doctor, who was now making that suspicious, skeptical face at Viktor. He shook his head and gave a little sigh before turning away.

       “Bella,” he said. “Do you feel safe taking Aeva upstairs to wash and change?”

       “Sure,” she said, nodding. “Aeva, come on.”

      She stuck her arms out at me and I felt a surge of giddiness. Jasper felt it too and he gave me something sour as I went to her; it tasted like jealousy. I smiled over my shoulder at him, giving him amusement and reassurance. He was jealous of Bella because I liked her too. What a selfish boy. He gave me another flash of affection and just a drop of a special sensation. I didn’t know what it was, but it always made my knees weak. He wasn’t doing it to control me, he was just showing off. I sent amusement to him again as I ducked under Bella’s arm and she led me upstairs.

      As we walked away, I heard Carlisle say, “Viktor, why don’t you go and fetch Edward? We can have him waiting downstairs for Aeva when she’s ready. Will that work?”

      Jasper’s voice answered him. “She’s feeling more confident and she likes almost everyone here.”

       “Almost?”

      He hesitated and I knew he knew I thought this was funny. He scolded me through the floor boards. “She’s not exactly keen on you, specifically,” he told his father. “She’s suspicious of you.”

       “But not threatened?”

       “No.”

       “I’ll take it. Viktor, go ahead.” If nothing else, the doctor was a man that operated without an ego, and I respected that about him.

       “Aeva,” Bella said, guiding me to the bedroom they usually kept me in. “Come on, you need to change.” I glanced down at my clothes and was surprised to see them still on my body at all; the dress wasn’t hanging by much.

       “Do you think you should dress first or wash first?” She asked.

       “No me importa,” I said, smiling. She smiled back and went into a closet, returning with a black t-shirt dress. She handed this to me and I shook my shoulders, shrugging the remnants of my old dress to the floor. I stood in my underwear and slipped the new one on while Bella watched.

       “That looks nice,” she said. “Now come on, your face is all bloody.” She took my wrist and led me into the bathroom, flipping on one of the faucets. I stood in the doorway while she wet a wash cloth. This room smelled like me, like that good smell from the pillow, and something that made my throat burn again. Bella didn’t seem to notice any of it, but it made my stomach squirm.

       “Come here,” she said, waving me over to the sink, “I’ll hold the wash cloth, since you might tear it, but you can get your face wet.”

      I nodded and leaned down. Bella reached over and gathered my hair into her hands to keep it from getting wet. The Beastie wouldn’t let me close my eyes, but it didn’t matter; the water didn’t bother them. I stood up and faced Bella. She scrubbed at my skin with the wash cloth, chatting to me all the while.

       “You’re so pretty,” she said, smiling. “I wish I knew what you looked like when you were human. I bet it was really different from me. I was so pale already, but your skin looks like it was tan. Were you tan?”

       “No sé,” I replied. “Yo no recuerdo.”

       “I think you were,” she continued, tipping my chin up to clean my neck. “We’ll ask Viktor if there are any pictures of you around. I bet you were pretty, because you’re _beautiful_ now. Do you like your red eyes?”

       “No sé.”

       “Well look at them,” she laughed, finishing with my face and picking up one of my hands. “Oh, this is a gorgeous ring!”

      I glanced down and saw a delicate little bauble on my left hand. It had three flowers, two gold ones on either side of a blue one with a diamond in the center of each. Bella polished it up for me, but I took it off and set it on the counter. I liked it, but I didn’t want it on. I was worried I would lose it; I didn’t even know where I’d gotten it from. Bella didn’t say anything about it, she just took my hands back and kept scrubbing.

      I looked in the mirror and my brain sort of stalled. That wasn’t what I was supposed to look like. I couldn’t say for sure what I was _supposed_ to look like, but I knew it was different. My skin was pale with a hint of something to it, like it’s natural color was covered in thick powder. It was smooth and poreless, though; absolutely flawless. The only color in my face in the deep pink of my lips and the brownish-purple shadows under my eyes. I bared my teeth at myself to find them shockingly white, but my tongue was a bright bubble gum pink. My eyelashes were thick and black, shading a pair of vividly red irises. That wasn’t the right color for them; my brain registered that much. They were mesmerizing though.

      They weren’t a flat red, but were a bit more wine colored closer to the pupil. I thought they were lovely and I smiled at myself. Then I noticed Bella over my shoulder smiling as well. When I compared us to each other, I noticed that my skin was a shade darker than her icy white color. I wasn’t dark by any stretch though, and that sent a pang through my chest for some reason.

       “See?” She said. “You look amazing. Your hair has seen better days, though.”

      That’s when I noticed a leaf sticking out of the tangled mess on top of my head. I pulled it out and laughed and Bella giggled along.

       “Hold still,” she said, taking a brush off the counter. “I’ll help you.” She started working on my ends while I patted my skin dry with a hand towel. I was still staring at myself as Bella fixed my hair. She worked in sections and my hair started falling in thick waves, shiny and dark. It didn’t used to look like this, but somehow I knew it looked better than it had before.

       “There,” Bella said, setting the brush down. “All done. I’ll braid it so it won’t get like that again.” She started at the crown of my head and I shut my eyes, enjoying the feeling of her fingers in my hair. Jasper, somewhere down stairs, registered my mood. He sent me praise and another dose of affection, just to remind me who in the house I was supposed to like best. He really was developing quite the jealous streak, but I ignored him. I liked having my hair played with; it reminded me of something or someone I couldn’t quite remember. Whoever they were, they used to run their fingers through my hair. Or maybe they just put their hands in my hair while we—

      Suddenly my whole head went wild. This wasn’t just the Beastie, it was something entirely different and completely horrible. There were voices in my head, saying things I wasn’t thinking. I was looking through seven sets of eyes at once. I had seven sets of every sense, in fact, and it was awful. It was too much and the Beastie went crazy. I couldn’t blame her for that; in fact, if she could do something about our current situation, I wanted her to. She roared and whipped around, grabbing hold of Bella’s arm at the elbow and yanking it away from us; she couldn’t bear to be touched. I couldn’t either, not with everything else filling my head.

      The noise and the chaos that had suddenly burst into my mind was gone just as quickly as it had appeared, but it didn’t matter. The Beastie was in a rage and we bolted out of bedroom, hoping to make a break for it. Jasper and Peter were on the landing with the doctor a few steps behind them. Viktor stood at the base of the stairs, watching us from the ground floor.

       “Aeva, don’t,” Peter said. “Stay here; don’t you run off now.”

      I didn’t like being told what to do.

       “Aeva!” He shouted as I streaked past him; he had no hope of catching me. I flung Bella’s arm at Jasper and leapt straight over the banister, running out the back door. There were stairs on the side of the deck and I bolted to them, brushing past a large white statue, when a wall of scent hit me.

      Phoenix.

      I whirled around at the smell; it was the same as the rag I’d been holding in the bedroom that morning, but it was cold.

      Phoenix.

      There was something small, wrapped in a sheet, at the foot of the statue. The scent was coming from it. It smelled so familiar, but it was wrong. It should have been warm. I climbed over the hand rail and, carefully, I unwrapped the little thing. I was left staring down at a child’s face.

      His skin was ashen white and mottled under his soft, dark hair. His pale blue eyes were half closed like he was drifting off. His face was expressionless, but somewhere deep in my head, a foggy memory tumbled forward. He used to smile. He poked his lip out to concentrate. He lived in this house and he stayed in the room beside mine.

       _Phoenix_.

      The angry, fearful Beastie inside me went dormant, taking its burning claws out of my throat as it went. I was left, completely alone in my own head, staring down his face. I fell at the foot of the statue and pulled the little body across my lap, cradling him against me. Gently—ever so gently—I pressed his eyes shut. He could have been sleeping.

      But he wasn’t. He was dead. He had been killed.

      I killed someone. I had killed Alec. Because Alec had killed Phoenix.

       _Phoenix was my son_.

      The realization felt like being stabbed in the chest. Without the other person crowding my head, I was remembering. I remembered peeing on tests in a bathroom in New York, I remembered the maternity band around my jeans, I remembered gentle nudges from the inside of my body. I had given birth surrounded by the women in my family. I had made this boy a nursery with purple walls and a moon that looked like my great grandfather.

      He had loved to read; Viktor and I used to read with him. Viktor had been there with me as he’d grown up. Phoenix had learned to speak and read and share. But he couldn’t see. He’d been blind, but it had never mattered to him. He had still been clever, and kind, and funny, and brave. He had loved his family so much, especially his cousins.

      Phoenix was making me remember so many other people.

      My mother, my sisters, my brother, my grandparents, my cousin, my uncle, and my nieces and nephews. I remembered my father.

      When I looked up, I was kneeling before him.

      I didn’t know who had made this statue of him. I still had gaps in my mind; I was missing parts of Phoenix’s life. I was missing weeks and months and _years_ and I didn’t know why, but I remembered him. I remembered Phoenix.

      Phoenix was my _son_.

      I held him closer, beginning to rock. My eyes were stinging and burning, but the tears wouldn’t come. It didn’t matter; I wept without them. I kissed his head and stroked his hair and breathed him in. He smelled sweet. Another memory tumbled forward; someone’s voice—a low, gentle voice—describing it:

       _Plums and lilac and cedar and cocoa and the way black berries taste._

      I didn’t know that voice, but it had described my son’s scent perfectly. Except he also smelled cold now.

      My grief was deep, clawing and raking through my body more painfully than my thirst had. It was going to pull me apart from the inside out. Surely, I would die from it.

       _Die_.

      Another memory came, unbidden. Another voice, different than the first; it was older, sad, and female:

       _Even once he dies…he won’t be gone._

      My mother had said that about my father. She believed that death was not an ending, just a separation.

      I felt the body I was in; I could feel how much of my strength I was restraining so as not to crush the little boy in my arms. I had never smelled him this clearly before. I had never been able to count his eyelashes or the hairs on his head, but I could see them clearly enough to do so now. Phoenix was human, and I had been once too. I wasn’t now. I could feel that much.

      Death separated humans from humans for only a short while.

      But I was not human.

      I would never see my son again.   
  
      I thought she was gone, but the Beastie woke up at this realization. She didn’t want to harm Phoenix; she let me keep control of our arms to hold on to him. But she showed me what our new voice was capable of and roared so loudly it hurt our chest.

       “Aeva.”

      I whipped around to find Viktor standing at the top of the stairs. He didn’t look angry or fearful, just concerned.

       “Please don’t touch him,” he said. “That is my grandson.”

       “You’re not my father.”

      His eyebrows shot up. “You’re speaking English again.”

       “You’re not my father,” I repeated. “But this is my son,” I said, setting Phoenix's body back down where I'd found it. “How are you his grandfather?”

      I couldn’t quite place the expression on Viktor's face; it mirrored mine and I couldn’t think why. Had his son died as well? “Aeva,” he said, much quieter this time. “I am not your father, I am Nataniel’s father.”

       “Who is Nataniel?”

      Viktor’s hand twitched, as though he was going to touch it to his chest. “N-Nataniel,” he repeated. “He is my son, Aeva. He is your _husband_.”

       "I didn’t know I was married.”

       Viktor closed his eyes, squeezing them tight. “That…is not your fault.”

       “Why did Alec kill Phoenix?” I asked, feeling my anger rise. For the first time, I felt angrier than the Beastie did.

       “I do not know, Aeva, ve’ve been vaiting for you to tell us.”

       “I don’t know either,” I growled. “Why don’t I know? Why can’t I remember?”

       “This sometimes happens,” he sighed, opening his eyes. “Vhen somevone is turned into a vampire.”

       “Who turned me into a vampire? Nataniel?”

       “Stop calling him that!” Viktor roared, startling me. “I call him Nataniel. You call him Nathan. _Nathan_.”

       “Well I don’t know Nathan or Nataniel!” I yelled, the Beastie quivering just barely under control. “Who the fuck turned me into a vampire?! Why is Phoenix dead!”

       “I DO NOT KNOW!”

      He shouldn’t have shouted. I lunged at him and Jasper and Peter had to come sprinting out of the house to pry me off of him.


End file.
